FLESH-EATING MAMMALS 7 



selected. Amazing patience is always displayed, and 

 the quarry is often followed by scent for many hours, 

 or even days, until a suitable opportunity presents itself 

 for getting on terms with it. When close quarters are 

 reached sight takes the place of scent, and the eyes of 

 all beasts of prey, especially the cats, show a remarkable 

 adaptability to the amount of light available. 



The theory which I have once or twice heard advanced, 

 that the hunting is done only by sight, does not appear 

 to have any solid foundation. I have repeatedly seen 

 predatory animals of various sorts, when hunger forces 

 them to be afoot by day, sniffing the breeze for some sign of 

 game being in the neighbourhood, and lions and wild dogs 

 will on occasion work out a spoor like foxhounds. When 

 Mr. Wolhuter, wounded after his successful struggle with 

 a lion, was awaiting assistance in the comparative safety of 

 a tree, he noticed how the second lion came trotting along 

 with head to earth, nosing out every inch of the ground 

 along which he had been dragged ; and it is a matter of 

 common knowledge that one of the best methods of bring- 

 ing carnivora up to a certain spot, is to haul the intestines 

 of a buck in a semicircle over as large an area as possible. 



That hunted animals also are capable of divining the 

 presence of their natural enemies by scent there is little 

 room for doubt ; but it is a very remarkable thing that 

 a leopard is able to lie for hours within a few yards of 

 a drinking place, or by the side of a gametrack, without 

 bucks apparently having any suspicion of his presence 

 until he springs out upon one which happens to approach 

 within reach. It may be that the wind is always care- 

 fully studied ; but I know of drinking places on the 

 Sabi where leopards continually catch impala, and 

 where the spots selected for concealment are so surrounded 

 by the latter when they are approaching and leaving 



