78 THE COMPLETE SPORTSMAN 



presents an impenetrable screen to the eye of 

 the hunter, and are thus enabled to observe 

 their natural enemy before he has caught the 

 faintest glimpse of them. That this is especially 

 the case with giraffes is notorious, and most 

 sportsmen at one time or another in their 

 careers have been sorely tempted to exclaim 

 with the poet Burns: 



" Oh, wad some power the giftie gie us 



To see giraffes before they see us V 

 i 



I When hunting this particular animal, it is 



S always therefore wise to provide oneself with a 

 small portable step-ladder and a pair of opera- 

 ' glasses, though some people discard the former 

 rather clumsy adjunct in favour of the more 

 convenient stilts. I think I may justly claim 

 to have been the first hunter of any prominence 

 to shoot a giraffe from the top of a step-ladder, 

 and I shall never forget the astonished expression 

 of the foolish creature (which was busy at the 

 moment consuming the topmost leaves of a 

 banyan- tree) when it turned round and sud- 

 denly found my face \^dthin six inches of its 

 own. It did look silly ! 



It is extremely important, as I have already 

 remarked, to ascertain the exact variety of 

 food from which every species of wild animal 

 obtains sustenance, before venturing to attack 



