268. ON SAFAEI 



hew open the tree or split the rock, when the bird is 

 assured of its share of the spoiL 



The result, in practice, is fatal to the silent stalker. 

 No sooner does the honey-guide perceive him, than up 

 it flies, rattling out a harsh incessant chatter — an invita- 

 tion to man to share sweet plunder ; but a warning of 

 danger to every wild beast within hearing, for all 

 instinctively interpret its precise significance. You can- 

 not drive that feathered fiend away : it follows on from 

 tree to tree ; you cannot shoot it for obvious reasons. It 

 will never leave you all day, until you agree to follow it 

 and do its bidding I 



The most aggravating phase — indeed humiliating — 

 is when the bird discovers the hunter in the midst of a 

 stalk, or perchance towards its climax. Then all the 

 hard work and, it may be, a coveted trophy is lost. In 

 one moment irreparable mischief is wrought, and the 

 " lords of creation " are powerless against this insignifi- 

 cant atom. 



Should the hunter elect to follow his guide, it will 

 almost assuredly lead him direct to a bees' nest. That 

 was my experience in three out of four instances in the 

 Transvaal ; in the fourth case it led us to a snake, half- 

 hidden in a hollow tree. The natives, however, assert 

 that the bird will at times deliberately deceive, and I 

 have read that, when refused its due share of the spoils, 

 it will, on the next occasion, lead up to a sleeping lion 

 or rhino, by way of revenge ! Such reasoning seems too 

 complex even for the acute wits of Indicator and {I. 

 quote from a letter in the Field, September 14, 1907) " in 

 East Africa, the Wandorobo deny that the bird ever does 

 this, but assert that it sometimes takes you to a dead 

 elephant that you may get the tusks, or to a dead rhino- 

 ceros, especially when the animals have been killed some 

 time and the tusks or horns have not been removed ; also 

 that it will take you to a lion's kill, but not to a lion. 

 These savages say that God has given this bird the work 

 of finding for men things that are lost. The honey- 

 guides certainly show discernment in never leading one 



