JULY, 1921 
FOREST AND STREAM 
293 
Courtesy of Macmillan Co. 
The late F. C. Selons scattering a herd of Zebras while in pursuit of Gemsbucks 
ously on the sky line, and appearing to 
be the only one on the plains, generally 
indicates that there is a herd close by, 
concealed by some inconspicuous fold 
in the ground. 
These folds and dips on the plains 
are misleading. At first sight the 
plains look so flat and open that one 
imagines that one sees everything there 
is to see for several miles in every di- 
rection. If one watches more closely 
one finds game appearing and disap- 
pearing; a whole herd of zebra is swal- 
lowed up and, more astonishing still, 
the enormous bulk of a rhinoceros ap- 
pears where before there was nothing 
but open grass, stretching away into 
the distance until the heat haze blurred 
the vision. 
The typical plain-dweller is a stupid 
animal; it gazes at the passerby and 
canters off a few hundred yards when 
he approaches too closely. It can still 
be beguiled into standing until the 
sportsman is in range by the old ex- 
pedient of walking as if to pass it, side- 
stepping nearer andi nearer the while. 
However, the game differ in tameness 
from time to time in a way I am quite 
unable to explain. Sometimes all the 
game on a plain will be as wild as 
haiwks; at other times this same game 
will let one pass within a hundred yards 
and will even walk after one and show 
the greatest curiosity. 
It is in their dealings with lion that 
the plain-dwellers seem most stupid. 
They get caught time after time at the 
same waterhole, by a waiting lion, 
without learning to take the obvious 
1 precaution of approaching upwind. At 
night they fall an easy prey. I have 
often marvelled at the insouciance 
shown by game in the presence of a lion. 
The general conception of them as 
hunted and frightened creatures, for 
ever on the qui vive and flying before 
the king of beasts, is not according to 
fact. I have seen lions walking through 
herds of game, passing within a few 
yards of some, and not an animal 
troubling to the extent of turning its 
head to see which way they were going. 
On one occasion I espied three belated 
lions returning home, followed closely 
by a small group of hartebeest. The 
lion reminded me of revellers returning 
home in dishevelled evening dress m the 
full light of day, and trying to escape 
public notice. They were very full of 
meat and slunk along in the most sheep- 
ish way, appearing most embarrassed 
by the curious interest shown in them 
by the hartebeest. Why these harte- 
beest should b'e so interested I do not 
know, unless they were attending the 
funeral of a brother, for, as a rule, 
they pay not the slightest attention to a 
lion; if a lion springs at one at night 
they gallop off a few yards and then 
start grazing again — either the lion has 
caught one, in which case the rest are 
safe, or it has not, in which case it will 
probably go off to stalk another herd. 
In South Africa is much of the typic- 
al prairie country — open plains of 
short grass with a sufficient water sup- 
ply from streams, or waterholes — but 
alas the game is now scarce. The most 
wonderful game plains in Africa are 
those of the highlands of East Africa, 
of which the Athi and Kapiti plains are 
the best known, reached by way of 
Mombasa and the Uganda railway. 
These countless herds of game could be 
seen in every direction, the most won- 
derful and incredible sight that I ever 
saw. In whichever way one looked 
there were herds upon herds peacefully 
grazing — Grant’s zebra, Coke’s Harte- 
beest, Wildebeest (gnu*), Grant’s and 
Thomson’s Gazelle, Warthog and, occa- 
sionally, Eland, Rhino, and other rarer 
visitors. Here also conditions are 
changing, for much of the land has now 
been settled over, but there are still 
other plains in both British and late 
German East Africa plentifully stocked, 
whilst the animal lover may see, but 
not shoot, the game in the reserve be- 
tween the railway line and the German 
border. 
Other plains are the Sabi and Pungive 
flats, reached by way of Beira, and 
the Bangweolo flats, to the south of the 
hike of that name, where great herds 
of Sassaby and Roan are found. In the 
plains of rather longer grass near the 
sudd area of the Nile, reached by river 
steamer from Khartoum, Thiang, Jack- 
son’s hartebeest and Baker’s Roan oc- 
cur. 
The plains have a charm of their own 
to the nature observer, but they are 
disappointing to the hunter. There is 
little scope for the exercise of his bush 
craft; tracking is useless where the 
game is visible miles off, and stalking is 
futile when there are thousands of pairs 
of eyes watching from every side. Suc- 
cess on the plains is chiefly dependent on 
the tameness of the game itself and the 
marksmanship of the shooter, who has 
*The name “gnu” applies only to the white- 
tailed wildebeest which is confined to South Af- 
rica. — [Edmund Heller.] 
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