A MA.X KILLED BY 4 LEOPARD. 109 



Dicrurus divaricatus, Lamprocolius chalyhceus, Buphaga 

 erythrorhyncha, and especially Irrisor erythrorhynchus, 

 Passer Swainsoni, and Hoplopterus spinosus. Bus- 

 tards (Otis arabs), guinea-fowl, and francolins (Pter- 

 nestes ruhricollis) abounded. 



On the early morning of the 29th June one of my 

 servants, rising before daybreak, was scratched in the 

 face by some wild animal which had come into the camp. 

 The track resembled that of a large cat. We thought 

 nothing of this at the time,, but or^ the, following 

 night we were all aroused by an outcry and shouting, 

 and an alarm was given that a lion had seized one 

 of our men. Mockler fired off his rijfle to frighten 

 away the beast, which rushed roaring past our tent. 

 On inquiry we were horrified to find that an Abyssinian 

 servant of Jesse's had been killed while a;sleep, and no 

 alarm had been created until the animal attempted to 

 drag away the body. The unfortunate man had two 

 large tooth-holes in his throat, and must either have 

 been so seized that he was unable to cry ou,t, or else, 

 as is probable, his neck was broken. The assailant was 

 doubtless a leopard, very probably the same small animal 

 which had scratched my servant the night before. A 

 lion would have carried away the body to. some distance, 

 certainly, and the tooth-marks were too small to have 

 been made by a lion's fangs. We had a low thorn fence 

 round three sides of our camp, and the camels occupied 

 the open side — the usual plan in this part of Africa — 

 but we had no fires, a most necessary precaution, and 

 one we never neglected after this sad lesson. 



