THE AFRICAN HUNTING DOG 117 



Where they have not been much disturbed, hunting 

 dogs will allow a man to approach within forty or fifty 

 yards of their lair before rising, when they will spring 

 to their feet, uttering barks of alarm, and jumping up 

 and down the better to see the intruder. After a time 

 they will make off at a loping canter for perhaps a 

 hundred yards, when they will stop for another long 

 stare. If not too closely pursued, they will retreat with 

 such leisurely indifference that the sportsman, by taking 

 short cuts, and hurrying his pace, can usually keep on 

 terms with them. If they have small previous ex- 

 perience of the rifle, the overthrow of one or two of their 

 number at the first encounter does not appear to alarm 

 them unduly, and a good many may be bagged before 

 they realize the danger. The troop will often wait for a 

 wounded companion to rejoin them, a display of loyalty 

 most serviceable to the hunter. 



In East Africa these animals are often extremely un- 

 concerned in demeanour, many of the huge packs which 

 roam about having, perhaps, never had a shot directed 

 at them. From the window of a carriage on the Uganda 

 Railway I saw four of these animals at the side of the line, 

 and thirty yards distant from the train, engaged in eating 

 a Grant's Gazelle. They merely raised their heads for a 

 casual glance and went on with their meal, so that they 

 evidently more than shared the indifference to passing 

 traffic displayed by the other wild animals present in that 

 remarkable country. 



Their ignorance of man's capabilities for mischief, 

 due entirely to their inexperience of him, has been the 

 source of many extraordinary " hunter's yarns." The 

 agitation and surprise which the unwonted sight of a 

 human being causes among them is frequently considered 

 to be the prelude to an attack, and the person con- 



