xxvi ANIMALS WHICH PROVIDE SPORT 251 



the heels of a lion. After about a mile the lion isb lown 

 and takes refuge, facing his pursuers, under the nearest 

 bush. The gun whose turn it is to shoot if more than 

 one be armed, then dismounts and advances for the 

 shot. Nice judgment is now required, as it is desirable 

 to get near enough to make a pretty certain shot, yet 

 not so near as to excite a premature charge. Experts 

 put the crucial distance at from forty to fifty yards. 

 There can be no question as to the grandness of this 

 sport. It is unfortunate that the portions of the Pro- 

 tectorate suited for galloping, always limited, are 

 getting denuded of lions, which are retiring more and 

 more to bush or rocky country. Tracking up lions is 

 an equally fine sport, but is not so general as it might 

 be in the Protectorate, owing to the great inferiority of 

 the native trackers, who can only spoor in desert 

 sandy country or in long grass after heavy rain. The 

 excitement of the sportsman may be imagined who has 

 followed the mighty spoor for mile after mile over 

 sand, through gullies and open bush till it disappears 

 in a small dense clump of jungle, and the most care- 

 ful search detects no mark of exit. It was by this 

 method that Lord Delamere, the prince of lion- 

 shooters, made the greater proportion of his bag. 

 Single-handed, he has accounted for close on seventy 

 lions, more than twice as many as stand to the credit 

 of any other sportsman. He holds a far more wonderful 

 record still. Of the first forty-nine lions at which he 

 fired and wounded he did not lose a single one ! Next 

 to Lord Delamere, the most famous lion-hunters in 

 East Africa are the brothers Hill, ostrich farmers on 

 the verge of the Athi plains, and Mr. A. B. Percival, 

 the game-ranger. These splendid and unassuming 

 sportmen have obtained most of their large totajs by 



