328 
TO THE UASIN G1SHU [ch. xii 
larger. Where the grass was long they would lie close, 
with neck flat along the ground, and dart off when 
nearly stepped on, with a pig-like rush like that of a 
reedbuck or duiker in similar thick cover. But where 
the grass was short, and especially where it was burned, 
they did not trust to lying down and hiding ; on the 
contrary, in such places they were conspicuous little 
creatures, and trusted to their speed and alert vigilance 
for their safety. They run very fast, with great bounds, 
and when they stand—usually at a hundred and fifty or 
two hundred yards—they face the hunter, the forward- 
thrown ears being the most noticeable thing about 
them. We found that each oribi bagged cost us an 
unpleasantly large number of cartridges. 
One day we found the spot where a large party of 
hyenas had established their day lairs in the wet seclusion 
of some reed beds. We beat through these reed beds, 
and, in the words once used by an old plains friend in 
describing the behaviour of a family of black bears 
under similar circumstances, the hyenas “ came bilin’ 
out.” As they bolted Kermit shot one and I another; 
his bit savagely at a stick with which one of the gun- 
bearers poked it. It is difficult at first glance to tell 
the sex of a hyena, and our followers stoutly upheld 
the widespread African belief that they are bisexual, 
being male or female as they choose. A wounded or 
trapped hyena will of course bite if seized, but shows 
no sign of the ferocious courage which marks the leopard 
under such circumstances ; for the hyena is as cowardly 
as it is savage, although its size and the tremendous 
power of its jaws ought to make it as formidable as the 
fierce spotted cat. 
The day after this incident we came on a herd of 
giraffe. It was Kermit’s turn for a giraffe ; and just as 
