2 THE GAME OF BRITISH EAST AFRICA. 



average lengths of horns. This, of course, is provided he uses a little discrimination 

 in picking out a decent head every time he fires. 



It cannot be denied that luck also plays an important role in the obtaining 

 of a big head. One has heard of many instances of records or exceptionally 

 fine heads being obtained by beginners or by men " browning " herds or resorting 

 to other unsporting practices. To quote a couple of instances in point : the first 

 kudu I ever shot was such a magnificent specimen that, if I hunted for a hundred 

 years, I would, in all probability, never shoot another within many inches of it. 

 The first time I found myself in country inhabited by the little Zanzibar Suni 

 I went out and picked up a record head which had been killed by a leopard. So 

 it would appear that the possession of one or two exceptionally fine heads in no way 

 proves that the owner is a hard-working sportsman or one gifted in bush lore. 



Putting aside chance, however, it is granted by most sportsmen that, in the 

 field, it is impossible to judge the length of a long horn to within an inch or 

 two. Some animals are notoriously more difficult to judge than others. Thus, in 

 the long run, a man who shoots a vast quantity of heads, as long as he selects 

 what he imagines to be good heads, should obtain better measurements than a man 

 who shoots, say, two heads only of one species, however carefully he may select them. 



So on these East African plains, swarming with game, I do not consider 

 that measurements in inches are so much a proof of a man's skill in selection ; 

 they are more a testimony to the number of animals he has slaughtered. A 

 small bag containing all fairly average heads is far more an achievement to be 

 proud of than the amassing of a big bag of poor heads with here and there an 

 exceptional one. 



British East Africa is the happy hunting-ground of the town-bred sportsman, 

 and one meets him everywhere amassing great piles of worthless and immature 

 heads, 99 per cent, of which are only fit to be thrown on the dust-heap. 



When one really good head is found amongst all this rubbish it is evident 

 that a pure fluke has been responsible for its being brought to bag. For this 

 reason I have never made any serious attempt to secure abnormally good heads 

 in this country, for it would only mean that one would shoot many animals not really 

 required before one is likely to obtain anything near the record. 



Nor have I ever made any special efforts to secure species new to me from 

 amongst the ranks of these plain-dwellers, for the sport does not appeal to me. 



By this, I do not wish to infer that I never shoot such common animals, for 

 there is always the meat problem to deal with. I have been mostly on trek while in 

 this country, and my dislike to killing these animals does not induce me to carry 



