A BUFFALO-HUNT BY THE KAMITI 135 
sionally the whereabouts of the herd in the papyrus swamp 
could be determined by seeing the flock of herons perched 
on the papyrus tops. We did not see any of the red-billed 
tick-birds on the buffalo; indeed, the only ones that we saw 
in this neighborhood happened to be on domestic cattle— 
in other places we found them very common on rhinoceros. 
At night the buffalo sometimes came right into the cultivated 
fields, and even into the garden close by the Boer farmer’s 
house; and once at night he had shot a bull. The bullet 
went through the heart but the animal ran to the papyrus 
swamp, and was found next day dead just within the edge. 
Usually the main herd, of bulls, cows, and calves, kept to¬ 
gether; but there were outlying bulls found singly or in 
small parties. Not only the natives but the whites were in¬ 
clined to avoid the immediate neighborhood of the papy¬ 
rus swamp, for there had been one or two narrow escapes 
from unprovoked attacks by the buffalo. The farmer told 
us that a man who was coming to see him had been regu¬ 
larly followed by three bulls, who pursued him for quite a 
distance. There is no doubt that under certain circum¬ 
stances buffalo, in addition to showing themselves exceed¬ 
ingly dangerous opponents when wounded by hunters, be¬ 
come truculent and inclined to take the offensive themselves. 
There are places in East Africa where as regards at least 
certain herds this seems to be the case; and in Uganda the 
buffalo have caused such loss of life, and such damage to the 
native plantations, that they are now ranked as vermin and 
not as game, and their killing is encouraged in every possi¬ 
ble way. The list of white hunters that have been killed 
by buffalo is very long, and includes a number of men of 
note, while accidents to natives are of constant occurrence. 
