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ON THE STONY ATHI, 





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you— I start early myself in morning to watch the 

 nyuml)o (wildebeest)." 



Following is my brother's description of his almost 

 unlooked-for success with the wildebeests — 



" The white-bearded gnu, or blue wildebeest, so 

 familiar to travellers on the Uganda railway, is an 

 excessively wild animal, yet not difficult to circumvent, 

 provided a few easily-aj)plied rules are observed. 



" Scattered on open plains in herds, or often singly, 



HOODED COBKA (Xaja luije) — Both strikes dh-ect and also ejects poison. 



it is out of the question to approach them by any 

 ordinary stalking, as a very few days' trial will convince. 

 Besides, it's worse than unsportsmanlike, it's criminal to 

 fire at animals at 500 yards. If you kill, it's a fluke, 

 for which you deserve to be kicked rather than com- 

 plimented. 



" I spent three weeks among the wildebeests last year 

 — a fortnight in utterly futile efl'orts to secure a single 

 specimen. ' The first really useful observation came to 

 us early one morning. We were seated on a perfectly 

 open plain without attempt at concealment, when day- 

 light filled the scene, and showed us four or five troops 

 of wildebeest standing within view. Knowing so well 

 that they were inaccessible, we remained motionless, 



