XIV RETURN TO LAKE RUDOLPH 335 



fleetly up and down, and chasing each other in and out among 

 the herd. Once or twice I had the opportunity of witnessing 

 a fight between two bulls. Between the rounds they stand a 

 little apart, pretending, as it were, to take no notice of each 

 other ; then, suddenly, as if instinctively impelled by some 

 simultaneous impulse, they rush together, going down on their 

 knees as their heads clash. At night the topi used to come 

 quite close up to my camp, and I have seen their footprints in 

 the morning within fifty yards of my hut, and often heard them 

 grunting and sneezing in the night. There were also a good 

 sprinkling of Grant's gazelle about, and a few zebra. The 

 latter were seldom to be seen during daylight, but on moon- 

 light nights I could sometimes make out the clouds of dust 

 they raised in rolling, and the bray of Grevy's zebra was con- 

 stantly to be heard then. The gazelles drop their fawns a little 

 later than the topi, apparently.^ A few giraffe are also found 

 (absent all along the lake southward), and I often saw a little 

 lot of ostriches when taking a stroll in the cool of the even- 

 ing. The sound made by the cock ostrich is commonly called 

 a roar ; but to my mind " drumming " is a more appropriate 

 description of it, and my men used to say that the ostrich 

 was " striking its drum " ; it has some resemblance, on an 

 exaggerated scale, to the drumming of a cock turkey. I could 

 trace no resemblance to the voice of the lion, which was not 

 wanting for purposes of comparison, being audible almost every 

 night at this time. Another familiar sound, which often added 

 its volume to the nocturnal music here, was the sonorous bellow- 

 ing of the hippos in the lake. 



With game so near, I was able, as I gained strength, to 

 procure meat, even within the limited range of my early morning 

 strolls, the length of which I was gradually able to extend,, 

 starting with the first streaks of dawn and usually getting back 

 before the sun became very hot. Thus I could generally shoot 



' If I am not mistaken, the breeding-time is different south of the hue, but in tins I 

 am open to correction. 



