70 THE GAME OF BRITISH EAST AFRICA. 



In some parts of the plains are found rocks, bushes, and ant-hills. Here 

 something real in the way of stalking may be done, and if the prize is such as a head 

 of the oryx, small blame to the sportsman if he waxes enthusiastic over his sport, for 

 to take advantage of the scanty cover that offers and approach unseen one of the 

 lynx-eyed inhabitants of the plains will tax the skilled stalker to the limit of his 

 powers. In the usual hunting-grounds of the sportsman in British East Africa this 

 oryx trophy is the gem of the plain-dwellers' heads. Farther north, however, in the 

 less-known parts, the animal is much more common, but still never quite easy 

 to obtain. 



I have now said about all that there is to say of " shooting " on the plains as a 

 sport. In its ways it has charms, but it cannot be claimed for it that it ranks high as 

 a sport. The " sport " in it consists practically entirely in the difficulty of shooting 

 straight and estimating one's range correctly. No knowledge of tracking, spoor, or 

 the habits of the game is generally necessary. Moreover, it entices people to use 

 unsporting methods such as risking long shots, leaving wounded animals through 

 inability to follow them up, killing larger quantities of game than is really necessary, 

 and even more heinous offences. 



For the pursuit of any animal not living on the plains, a knowledge of hunting is 

 essential if you wish to reap any great measure of success. Where game is very 

 plentiful in the bush it may be encountered accidentally. To maintain any con- 

 sistent run of good luck, however, and to obtain good and not indifferent heads, and, 

 above all, to meet with specimens of the rarer animals, a knowledge of hunting is 

 necessary ; that is to say, a knowledge of the spoors of the different game, ability to 

 follow such spoor, quick eyesight and hearing, and above all a knowledge of the 

 habits of game and the arts of bushcraft. Failing practice and experience in these 

 subjects, they can be supplemented to some extent by the offices of a good native 

 tracker ; but, as I have before said, a skilled tracker is difficult or very nearly 

 impossible to obtain in this country, for few of the natives are of much use in the art. 

 Moreover, as a pure matter of sport, there is no comparison between the excitement 

 and interest when one is his own tracker, even if supplemented by a native, and that 

 of being entirely dependent on the caprices of a professional tracker or native hunter. 



Let me now try to detail the operations of a hunter in search of some particular 

 specimen in bush and forest. Given a large tract of this sort of country, it may or 

 may not contain the game wanted. 



On the plains this doubt can be solved almost at a glance, but in the bush it can 

 be determined only by research. This research is not so difficult as at first it might 

 appear. Given that you know the appearance of the spoor of the animal you 



