ch. xi] STALKING BUFFALO 308 
habitually spent the day. Two or three hours passed 
before we found what we sought; and we at once began 
to follow the trail. It was in open thorn bush, and the 
animals were evidently feeding. Before we had followed 
the spoor half an hour we ran across a rhinoceros. As 
the spoor led above wind, and as we did not wish to 
leave it for fear of losing it, Cuninghame stayed where 
he was, and I moved round to within fifty yards of the 
rhino, and, with my rifle ready, began shouting, trying 
to keep the just mean as regards noise, so as to scare 
him, and yet not yell so loudly as to reach the buffalo if 
they happened to be near by. At last I succeeded, and 
he trotted sullenly off, tacking and veering, and not 
going far. On we went, and in another half-hour came 
on our quarry. I was the first to catch a glimpse of the 
line of bulky black forms, picked out with white where 
the sun glinted on the horn bosses. It was ten o’clock, 
a hot, windless morning on the Equator, with the sun 
shining from a cloudless sky ; yet these buffalo were 
feeding in the open, miles from water or dense cover. 
They were greedily cropping the few tufts of coarse 
herbage that grew among the sparse thorn bushes, which 
here were not more than two feet high. In many 
places buffalo are purely nocturnal feeders, and do not 
come into the hot, bare plains in the scorching glare of 
daylight; and our experience with this herd illustrates 
afresh the need of caution in generalizing about the 
habits of game. 
We crept toward them on all-fours, having left the 
porters hidden from sight. At last we were within 
rather long range—a buffalo’s eyesight is good, and can¬ 
not be trifled with as if he were a rhino or elephant—and 
cautiously scrutinized the herd through our glasses. 
There were only cows and perhaps one or two young 
