GAME AND DISEASE 
805 
before the first vulture appears. A few minutes later the air 
is full of them, and then the four-footed scavengers begin to 
appear — the jackals first, usually in pairs. In an out-of-the- 
way district, or game reserve, where the sportsman is rare, 
they come openly trotting up, showing little fear ; and if the 
vultures are not too numerous, they will at once attack the 
carcass. If the vultures are in large numbers, they will not 
venture near, but will sit and await their chance of a titbit, 
or wait until only the bones are left, and then they will take 
what remains. Possibly an old hyaena, very hungry, will be 
tempted to move in daylight, but his slinking approach is 
very different from that of the jackal : he seems to feel that 
he is a creature of the night, for he comes along, taking all 
the cover he can, till he sees the feast, when he will hurry up 
to it, and, driving off the vultures, set to work ; even then he 
is very nervous, and constantly looks round for a possible 
enemy. Should he manage to get a large piece of meat, he 
will even retire to the nearest cover with it ; one can see it 
is against his instincts to be abroad in the daytime. 
The quick arrival of the vultures on the scene is explained 
by the way in which they quarter the skies so high that the 
human eye cannot see them ; yet with their No. 12 Zeiss-power 
eyesight they can see all that goes on over a big area. The 
sick or wounded buck is seen by one vulture, and he drops 
towards it. From north, south, east, and west, other birds 
sail in towards the same point, and so the circle spreads until 
hundreds of birds are at the kill. The collection of hyaenas 
at the feast must work out something on the same lines. Every 
hyaena has its own regular round, which is followed night after 
night, and, as he travels, his howl notifies his neighbours as to 
his movements. Should he find a kill his howls cease, and I 
have no doubt that this is quite enough to bid his friends 
to the feast. 
This is of course if a kill is fresh. If a kill is a day or two 
old, which only happens when a beast has died in thick bush, 
and out of sight of the vultures, it will of its own accord 
notify everything down wind for a big distance ; or the track 
of a sick or wounded beast will attract every meat- eater 
that crosses it. 
