286 
AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 
erect between them, seemingly quite unconcerned for a 
couple of minutes, and then strolling off without making 
any effort to molest them. I can give no explanation of 
the incident; it illustrates afresh the need of ample and 
well-recorded observations by trustworthy field naturalists, 
who shall go into the wilderness before the big game, the 
big birds, and the beasts of prey vanish. Those pages of 
the book of nature which are best worth reading can best 
be read far from the dwellings of civilized man; and for 
their full interpretation we need the services, not of one 
man, but of many men, who in addition to the gift of ac¬ 
curate observation shall if possible possess the power fully, 
accurately, and with vividness to write about what they 
have observed. 
Kermit shot many other animals, among them three 
fine oryx, one of which he rode down on horseback, ma¬ 
noeuvring so that at last it galloped fairly closely across his 
front, whereupon he leaped off his horse for the shot; an 
ardwolf (a miniature hyena with very weak teeth) which 
bolted from its hole at his approach; gerenuk, small ante¬ 
lope with necks relatively as long as giraffes’, which are 
exceedingly shy and difficult to obtain; and the Grevy’s 
zebra, as big as a small horse. Most of his hunting was 
done alone, either on foot or on horseback; on a long run 
or all-day tramp no other member of our outfit, black or 
white, could quite keep up with him. He and Tarlton 
found where a leopard had killed and partly eaten a nearly 
full-grown individual of this big zebra. He also shot a 
twelve-foot crocodile. The ugly, formidable brute had 
in its belly sticks, stones, the claws of a cheetah, the hoofs 
of an impalla, and the big bones of an eland, together with 
