TRACKING A RHINOCEROS 
79 
‘ rhino ’ of the night before, and sending back for my big 
rifle, I commenced to track. We had not proceeded far, 
when there was a dash made by something on our right, 
and out of the thick cover strode a large cock ostrich in 
splendid plumage. If I had had my rifle in my hands I 
should have got a snap-shot at him at very close quarters : 
as it was, although we raced after him, he disappeared 
entirely among the bushes. On returning to the spot where 
we had started him, I found a nest with eight beautiful 
eggs (the cock bird sits on the nest in turns with the hen 
ostrich). It is not strictly speaking a nest, but a hole 
scraped in the sand, a place where the sand is deep being 
selected, and on it the eggs are laid and covered with sand, 
not, as some people think, to hatch them, but to keep them 
out of sight of the hungry vultures. My shikari, on seeing 
them, held up his hands and exclaimed : 
‘ Greaty Scot ! ostrich hab eight little boys !’ 
Hoping that the male would come back, and fearing lest 
the vultures should swoop down upon and break the eggs, 
we covered them over with grass and sand, and continued 
tracking the rhinoceros. The track led us on for miles 
and miles through thin bush (where we saw a second 
ostrich), across plains and over rocky ground, where track- 
ing was extremely difficult, until we reached the edge of a 
long gorge, or nullah ; then we knew he was making for the 
water, and at length he walked down a small precipice, where 
you would have fancied no animal of his build could possibly 
have descended. At the bottom of the rocky nullah were 
several pools of water, and at each we found our friend’s 
tracks, but at length we lost his spoor among the hopeless 
mass of boulders, and as I had been following him for five 
hours, I was glad to retrace my steps homewards. 
Walking up the steep sides of the nullah with great 
difficulty, we started a fine bull koodoo, but the bush was 
too thick to offer the chance of a shot. At last we reached 
the top of the gorge, and wended our way, pouring from 
head to foot with perspiration. We saw the tracks of two 
