NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 
IBB 
would presently bring their owner right across his path. He 
failed to guess what animal they belonged to till it suddenly 
emerged from the cover on to a bare piece of rocky ground some 
fifteen yards from where he was now halted. Then he saw it 
was a fine specimen of maned lion, his only weapon — a hunting 
knife — he loosed in its sheath and then rang his cycle bell 
sharply, for hitherto, owing to the downpour, the lion had 
neither smelt nor heard his approach. At the sound of the 
bell the lion promptly halted to listen, and on a second ringing, 
sharply turned his face in the direction of my friend, and for 
the space of a few seconds they gazed at one another ; then the 
lion, with its usual dignity and detestation of undignified haste* 
trotted off in very much the same direction as it had come. 
Near our camp was a military one, where grass was being 
cut for foddering the transport animals and mules, and our 
neighbour caught a leopard a few nights before in a strong 
steel trap ; two hyaenas had in their usual cowardly manner 
attacked the poor creature, and one bit off the tail, one of them 
also snatched a huge mouthful from its haunch, the skin being 
pretty well ruined. A year ago, in the same neighbourhood, 
someone trapped nine leopards in the space of four or five 
weeks. A night or two before, one was grunting round the 
camp and came within a hundred yards, so that my host took 
his rifle and lay outside the firelight to get a shot at it ; the night 
was pitchy dark however, and he could make nothing out. 
On arriving at camp I shot a lizard in a tree, which is new 
to the collection. Seeing a secretary bird stalking about a 
plain a quarter of a mile off, we started in pursuit, and my 
companion got one shot at it with his rifle, but missed ; we spent 
a warm hour in following the bird about, but it was now far 
too wary, and we had to give up at last. These secretary birds 
stalk about in the long grass in the most majestic and stately 
manner. When you get dangerously near they break into a 
run, which generally ends in flight, soaring low over the grass 
for four hundred yards or so. Sometimes our would-be 
victim would sail right up into the air and,' vulture-like, sail 
round in great circles. 
September 21. — Spent all day collecting under a broiling 
sun ; wore my shirt open ; as it was cool repented this when I 
