XXVI ANIMALS WHICH PROVIDE SPORT 251 
the heels of a lion. After about a mile the lion isb lown 
and takes refuge, facing his pursuers, under the nearest 
bush. The gun whose turn it is to shoot if more than 
one be armed, then dismounts and advances for the 
shot. Nice judgment is now required, as it is desirable 
to get near enough to make a pretty certain shot, yet 
not so near as to excite a premature charge. Experts 
put the crucial distance at from forty to fifty yards. 
There can be no question as to the grandness of this 
sport. It is unfortunate that the portions of the Pro¬ 
tectorate suited for galloping, always limited, are 
getting denuded of lions, which are retiring more and 
more to bush or rocky country. Tracking up lions is 
an equally fine sport, but is not so general as it might 
be in the Protectorate, owing to the great inferiority of 
the native trackers, who can only spoor in desert 
sandy country or in long grass after heavy rain. The 
excitement of the sportsman may be imagined who has 
followed the mighty spoor for mile after mile over 
sand, through gullies and open bush till it disappears 
in a small dense clump of jungle, and the most care¬ 
ful search detects no mark of exit. It was by this 
method that Lord Delamere, the prince of lion- 
shooters, made the greater proportion of his bag. 
Single-handed, he has accounted for close on seventy 
lions, more than twice as many as stand to the credit 
of any other sportsman. He holds a far more wonderful 
record still. Of the first forty-nine lions at which he 
fired and wounded he did not lose a single one! Next 
to Lord Delamere, the most famous lion-hunters in 
East Africa are the brothers Hill, ostrich farmers on 
the verge of the Athi plains, and Mr. A. B. Percival, 
the game-ranger. These splendid and unassuming 
sportmen have obtained most of their large totals by 
