HINTS ON EAST AFRICAN STALKING, ETC. 187 



of quail, as well as enormous hosts of duck and geese of 

 various kinds on the lakes and large lagoons, together with two 

 species of snipe. All these add very considerably to the charm 

 of a shooting trip, and afford a pleasant change from the rifle to 

 the shot-gun, besides agreeably altering the monotonous menu 

 of antelope venison or tough rhinoceros or buffalo steak. 



As then, all the big game in British East Africa should be 

 killed by honest stalking, without the aid of horses, and as the 

 first principles of stalking have been dealt with elsewhere in 

 these volumes, it only remains for me to call attention to a few 

 points peculiar to stalking in East Africa. 



To deal first with the wind, which here, as elsewhere, is 

 the first matter for a stalker to consider, it may be said that in 

 the plains and fairly open country the wind is generally 

 steady in one quarter or another between the hours of eight 

 or nine A.M. and sundown, except when the monsoons are 

 beginning to change, and then it is constantly chopping and 

 veering round from point to point throughout the day. In the 

 early morning, between daylight and about eight o'clock, it is 

 also steady and constant from one quarter, but between eight 

 and nine it often chops about before settling into the quarter 

 from which it will continue to blow for the rest of the day. 

 That is to say, when the sportsman leaves camp at daylight 

 the wind may be blowing from the south-east and will continue 

 so up to any time between seven and nine o'clock, when, after 

 chopping about for a short time, it will settle into another 

 quarter, say north-east, for the rest of the day. In forest, thick 

 bush, and long grass, it is often apt, at all times of the day, to 

 be very changeable and uncertain, and may chop round in 

 eddies when least expected, and this is what often makes 

 shooting in these places so disappointing. It is therefore 

 necessary to constantly test the wind. The most convenient 

 and effectual way of doing this is to pick up and let fall from 

 the hand a little sand, dust, or pulverised leaves. On a very 

 still calm day, when there is not enough wind to affect dust 

 or dry leaves, a puff of smoke from a pipe or from a match, 



