HUNTING IN THE EIFT VALLEY 15 
filled the view. Further on, where forest gave place to 
open grassy prairie, all these were literally in thousands, 
though the impala always frequent the fringe of the 
covert. We saw no elands at this date, but the plains 
were alive with herds of the smaller gazelle ( Thomsoni ) 
darting about and chasing each other in sprightly 
exuberance. Besides these were wart-hogs, ostriches and 
SPOTTED HYENA. 
great kori bustards, while crowned cranes in threes and 
fours stalked sedately through the throng. Jackals 
loped hither and thither, and, further away, a gaunt 
hyena, looking big as a lioness, shambled across the 
plain, its long neck held stiffly forward at an upward 
angle and tail carried low between the legs. 
At one point we counted thirty-one ostriches close 
together—thirteen in the nearer pack, two of which 
were big old cocks, and eighteen more a little beyond. 
Hard by them a herd of zebra were feeding, and in the 
foreground a group of marabou storks held an inquest 
over some bones. 
Strikingly handsome objects were the crowned 
cranes just mentioned, big birds of boldly-marked 
plumage—velvety-black, with rich chestnut wings and 
