Il8 THE GAME OF BRITISH EAST AFRICA. 



When a bush grows on the top of an ant-hill it becomes an even more valuable 

 objective to the stalker, for this will provide him with head cover if he wishes to 

 reconnoitre from its top. If an animal passes behind an ant-hill, however close it 

 may be to it, it is unable to see through, and so, during an approach, silence and a 

 correct wind are the only points really important. 



Ant-hills may be used as look-out places as well as covers for approach, and so 

 are doubly useful. In long grass country they are the only places, as a rule, from 

 which it is possible to get a view at all without climbing a tree, and they also 

 afford a raised platform from which to fire, and at their elevation a steady lying 

 shot is often possible, whereas, below, a standing shot is more usual. Be careful, 

 however, that your ant-hill is not in reality a rhino covered with red mud. 



The stalker on the plains has very little cover to hand of which to avail 

 himself. There are the rises and dips and gentle slopes which enable him to get into 

 a preliminary position for the stalk, but so flat-topped and shallow are they that he 

 can seldom do more than that. There are, as a rule, no abrupt edges to these slopes, 

 so that neither man nor animal can suddenly come into view or disappear from 

 sight. It is rather a gradual process — an animal's head appears at perhaps four 

 hundred yards, by crouching the stalker may be able to get another fifty yards 

 nearer, and by crawling he may perhaps gain another fifty yards. This will still 

 leave him three hundred yards from the animal, and if he then stands erect the 

 animal's body will still perhaps be invisible or not clear, though its head has been 

 in view for the last hundred yards. So the ordinary dips and rises can, as a rule, 

 be put out of the question for any further use they afford in the approach, once 

 they have served their purpose as a preliminary. 



For the stalk itself, there may offer a few tufts of long grass and a few ant-hills, 

 besides a scattering of scanty thorn-bushes, the majority of which would hardly 

 effectively conceal a hare. Then very occasionally there is a watercourse or river- 

 bed. There is also at certain seasons the ordinary grass, but crawling through 

 this is a laborious process, and apt to make a tremendous rustling. Care, also, must 

 be taken that the grass is not unduly moved or shaken. 



There is one great thing, however, in the stalker's favour, and that is the very 

 local habits of the plain-feeders. They scarcely ever move very far during the day, so 

 he has plenty of time to get near to them. There is practically no chance of their 

 suddenly taking it into their heads to rush off to another grazing-ground, for, even 

 when disturbed, they only move off a few hundred yards. Moreover, they generally 

 go through much the same routine day after day for considerable periods, their 

 migrations during the different seasons being a very slow change from one locality 



