30 
ON SAFARI 
grouse that scares a Highland stag. Here more serious 
obstacles confront the stalker, in particular the “ grass- 
antelopes,” duikers and steinbucks, dik-diks and such-like, 
that often start from underfoot precisely at the critical 
moment, and, by bouncing away, leaping over bush and 
branch, disturb everything else within sight. Then a 
great wart-hog, twenty stone in weight, may spring 
from his lair, grunting and snorting, with all bristles 
WART-HOG. 
erect and tail upright as a flagstaff, as he crashes through 
brushwood and thorn. In each case the stalker’s labour 
is lost. But at least in East Africa I have never been 
thwarted by birds — that is, by the honey-guides 
( Indicator ), the louries and social shrikes, that in the 
Transvaal so often gave a note of warning to otherwise 
unsuspecting game. 
Charming examples of animal-instinct—approximat¬ 
ing to reason—constantly occur to the silent stalker. 
Thus the savage wart-hog aforesaid may dash, snorting 
and tail erect, through herds of grazing gazelles. Up 
