TO THE UASIN GISHU 393 



were common, and sometimes uttered a peculiar squealing 

 whistle when they first saw us. The reedbuck also whistled, 

 but their whistle was entirely distinct. It was astonishing 

 how close the reedbuck lay. Again and again we put 

 them up within a few feet of us from patches of reeds or 

 hollows in the long grass. A much more singular habit is 

 the way in which they share these retreats with dangerous 

 wild beasts; a trait common also to the cover-loving bush- 

 buck. From one of the patches of reeds in which Kermit 

 and I shot two hyenas a reedbuck doe immediately after- 

 ward took flight. She had been reposing peacefully during 

 the day within fifty yards of several hyenas! Tarlton had 

 more than once found both reedbuck and bushbuck in com- 

 paratively small patches of cover which also held lions. 



It is, by the way, a little difficult to know what names 

 to use in distinguishing between the sexes of African game. 

 The trouble is one which obtains in all new countries, where 

 the settlers have to name new beasts; and is, of course, 

 primarily due to the fact that the terms already found in 

 the language originally applied only to domestic animals 

 and to European beasts of the chase. Africanders, whether 

 Dutch or English, speak of all antelope, of either sex, as 

 "buck." Then they call the males and females of the 

 larger kinds bulls and cows, just as Americans do when 

 they speak of moose, wapiti, and caribou; and the males 

 and females of the smaller kinds they usually speak of as 

 rams and ewes. 



While on safari to the 'Nzoi I was even more interested 

 in honey birds which led us to honey than I was in the 

 game. Before starting for Africa John Burroughs had es- 

 pecially charged me to look personally into this extraor- 

 dinary habit of the honey bird; a habit so extraordinary 

 that he was inclined to disbelieve the reality of its ex- 

 istence. But it unquestionably does exist. Every experi- 

 enced hunter and every native who lives in the wilderness 

 has again and again been an eye-witness of it. Kermit, 

 in addition to his experience in the Sotik, had been 



