210 
ON SAFARI 
dozens of these ravines, but, except on that first drive 
of all, never again did we see the coveted beast until the 
very last. Then a lioness bounding up in front of W- 
(who was w T ith the beaters), disappeared amid bush-clad 
rocks, and, as she never emerged on the lower side, where 
I awaited her, had evidently gone to ground among the 
rocks, whence we failed to dislodge her. 
We put up, of course, plenty of other game, such as 
Chanler’s reedbuck, duiker, dikdik, steinbuck and pig. 
On one occasion, from some huge pinnacled rocks, choked 
with heavy brushwood, which towered up, island-like, in 
the neck of a ravine, sprang seven hyenas within fifty 
yards. For a moment, I thought the great half-seen 
brutes were lions at last—and rather too many all at 
once. One of these rolled over to a Paradox bullet, and 
at the mouth of the gorge W-made a brilliant shot 
at a second, killing one of a string of five that filed past 
at well over 300 yards. His first shot had struck the 
ground behind, but, by correcting the forward allowance, 
the second got well home. 
Twice during these lion-drives we met with porcu¬ 
pines. The first, a male, was caught alive in a bush- 
filled donga by Mabruki—the same Mabruki who after¬ 
wards proved a source of danger, but who was always 
wondrous expert in this way ; the second, though com¬ 
pletely surrounded, managed to dodge a dozen active 
natives, and, by a series of bounds, and with its quills 
.all rattling, gained refuge in a crevice of rock. The 
stomach of that secured contained grass, seeds and other 
vegetable-matter only. 
Guinea-fowl and francolins sped down the glens like 
driven blackcock, and curious nightjars (Cosmetornis 
vexillarius , the pennant-winged nightjar) Ricked up 
and dived back among the scrub, while our common 
English swallows filled the air. These were constant 
companions, snapping up, under our lee, the insects 
disturbed by the beaters. Other small British birds 
observed on the equator in January included wheatear, 
tree-pipit, yellow and grey wagtails. 
