7lS MR. G. H. GURNEY ON NATURAL HISTORY 
it turned out to be a rare species and had not been brought 
alive to England before ; another interesting animal which 
was common on all the rocky hills round Theki, was the 
Hyrax ( Hyrax capensis), they are about the size of a Rabbit 
and rather resemble a very large brown Guinea-pig ; in East 
Africa there are two species of them, one living in trees and 
the other in rocky hills and kopjes, but the most interesting 
fact about the Hyrax is that it is very closely allied scientifi- 
cally to the Rhinoceros, the dentition in the two animals is 
almost similar. While I was at Theki we had some great hunts 
after Cheetahs, they were not very scarce but owing to their 
lurking, secretive habits they are not often seen ; in the day 
time they live in the thickly wooded dongas and ravines, com- 
ing out at dusk to stalk their prey; we shot several, and their 
beautifully spotted skins make a nice trophy to bring home ; 
I also shot a Serval which is like a small edition of a Leopard, 
with a beautifully spotted skin and short tail, a true Cat all 
over with retractile claws, which can disappear at will, unlike 
the Cheetah’s which are non-retractile like a dog’s. Two 
species of Hyaena, the spotted and the striped, and two species 
of Jackal were common, but of all Carnivora the Lion is the 
animal which every white man who goes to East Africa is 
most anxious to see and, if possible, to shoot. I was lucky 
enough to do both ; four magnificent Lions had been killed 
by P. belore I got to Theki, and a few days after we arrived 
I had a splendid view of a fine black-maned Lion walking 
quietly along in the bush early one morning, returning from 
his night’s prowl, we fired at him at once, but did not hit him, 
and he disappeared over the brow of a hill thickly covered 
with scrub and bush ; here we searched for him for some time 
when he suddenly dashed out from behind a large stone, 
looking like a great big yellow mastiff, and bounded away, 
if one of our bullets hit him it had no effect, and we were 
loth to admit that we’d lost him ; the following Sunday, 
however, we killed a large Lioness after a most exciting and 
thrilling hunt, in fact I am certain that there are few more 
exciting things in this world than Lion shooting ; if one 
misses a cock Pheasant in England it doesn’t matter, but if 
