AYith Flashlight and Rifle -* 



the comparatively small number of giraffes still remaining. 

 Of course the Customs officials may be outwitted, if the 

 thongs are cut very thin, by false declarations as to their 

 nature. 



As with all animals, we find the giraffe either shy or 

 trusting according to its experience of men. Far out on 

 the desert, where men are never seen, I found them so 

 free from timidity that I was able to approach to within 

 about two hundred paces of them. I succeeded, too, in 

 discovering them by clay in their haunts in the woods, 

 and in getting quite close. But usually their timidity 

 and caution do not allow of such liberties. Their keen 

 eyes, as a rule, spot a man a great way off! A char- 

 acteristic whisking of the long bushy tails, and a moving 

 forward of the leader, whether bull or cow, from out of 

 the shade of the tree under which the herd are taking 

 their siesta, are the heralds of immediate flight. In 

 spite of their awkward and clumsy-looking gait, they 

 soon distance the unmounted hunter, and are lost to 

 sight. After much trouble I once succeeded in photo- 

 graphing a herd of giraffes going full-trot. Generally 

 speaking, giraffes are more difficult to photograph than 

 any other animal. 



Even when the giraffes are to be seen out in the 

 open and the light is good, the photographer must get 

 quite close to the herd to be able to take a picture. 

 In the midst of jungle it is in most cases only possible 

 to obtain photographs of a few single specimens that 

 have somewhat separated from the herd. I had made 

 many vain endeavours before I at last succeeded in 



-; 1 6 



