208 SAVAGE SUDAN 



were suspicious and we saw them no more. Just as all 

 hope was abandoned, consolation came, for we "jumped " 

 a reedbuck ram ; at 100 yards he stopped to look back 

 like Lot's wife and got a ball in the heart horns 12 

 inches by 4! inches in basal circumference. The diary 

 recorded : "This is no 'Common' reedbuck ;" and it isn't 

 full details later. 



Once when busy on a stalk, I had instructed my 

 "boys" to remain behind. On rejoining, they brought 

 handfuls of ostrich-plumes and declared that a lion had 

 killed the " Narm" On going to the spot a lot of 

 feathers lay scattered around, together with the legs, 

 head, and part neck of a hen ostrich. Whether lions 

 do kill ostriches, or what had killed this one, remained 

 unproven. 



To this Mr Willoughby Lowe adds: "Lions do 

 great damage to ostrich-farms, so it is more than 

 probable they will kill wild ostriches, especially when 

 nesting. Captain Lambert, who was my companion in 

 British East Africa and Uganda, told me lions had 

 killed his brother's entire stock of ostriches in one night, 

 forcing their way through a strong barbed wire fence." 



