8o 
SOMALILAND 
more ‘ rhino,’ two days old. As I walked along I became 
aware of the presence of the first wild zebra I had ever set 
eyes on. He was close to me behind some trees, quietly 
walking along alone. My head-shikari was carrying my 
rifle some way in front of me, as I could not keep pace with 
him, being very tired after my long tramp after the ‘rhino.’ 
I was obliged to whistle to stop him, as I dared not move, 
but before I had the sight properly on him he had seen us, 
and with a twist of his tail bounded ofi‘, when I missed him 
as I shot through the trees. The shot startled eight or 
ten oryx, some having very fine heads, which went over a 
small hill out of our sight. 
After breakfast I started out again to try and get a 
shot at our friend the ostrich of the morning. When we 
reached the spot, as I expected, up flapped a dozen infernal 
vultures, and on examination of the nest we found that 
they had already broken and eaten one of the eggs, 
although covered deep in grass and sand ! This demon- 
strates the enormous power of a vulture’s beak, as the shell 
of an ostrich egg is extremely hard and thick. Knowing 
that it would be now useless to hope to save them from the 
greedy birds, I became greedy myself, and sent the remain- 
ing beauties to camp. After this we saw plenty of game, 
gerenook, a couple of oryx which would not allow us to 
approach them, and dozens of dik-dik antelope. 
I returned to camp after a disappointing day, considering 
the game we had seen. I was far too tired to sit in a 
zareba over a now putrid camel and spend a watchful 
night, so I sent my shikaris instead, and spent my evening 
‘ blowing ’ my ostrich eggs and skinning a snake. One of 
my men complained of fever and looked very sick. During 
the day I had seen jackal, dik-dik, ostrich, bustard, gere- 
nook, koodoo, oryx and zebra, besides countless game birds. 
Next day, June 4, I marched away west of the villages, 
and camped again at 8.30 a.m. My guide, Mr. Nur Korf- 
drop, or some name sounding very like it, who until 
now carried a beautiful sword given him by Abyssinians, 
