16 
African Game Trails 
and the wounded lioness, and Kermit killed 
the latter; but they let the cubs go, feeling 
it unsportsman-like to kill them—a feeling 
which I am by no means certain I share, 
for lions are scourges not only to both wild 
and tame animals, but to man himself. 
Kermit also rode down and killed two 
cheetahs and a serval, and got a bad tum¬ 
ble while chasing a jackal, his horse turning 
a complete somersault through a thorny 
bush. This made seven cheetahs that he 
had killed, a record unequalled for any 
other East African trip of the same length; 
and the finding and galloping down of these 
cheetahs,—going at breakneck speed over 
any and every kind of ground,—and then 
shooting them either from foot or horse¬ 
back, made one of the noteworthy features 
of our trip. One of these two cheetahs had 
just killed a steinbuck. The serval was 
with its mate, and Kermit watched them 
for some time through his glasses before 
following them. There was one curious 
feature of their conduct. One of them was 
playing about, now near the other, now 
leaving it; and near by was a bustard, 
which it several times pretended to stalk, 
crawling toward it a few yards, and then 
standing up and walking away. The bus- 
terd paid no heed to it; and, more singular 
still, two white-necked ravens lit close to it; 
within a few yards on either side, the serval 
sitting erect between them, seemingly quite 
unconcerned for a couple of minutes, and 
then strolling off without making any effort 
to molest them. I can give no explanation 
of the incident; it illustrates afresh the need 
of ample and well-recorded observations by 
trustworthy field naturalists, who shall go 
into the wilderness before the big game, the 
big birds, and the beasts of prey vanish. 
Those pages of the book of nature which 
are best worth reading can best be read far 
from the dwellings of civilized man; and 
for their full interpretation we need the 
services, not of one man, but of many men, 
who in addition to the gift of accurate ob¬ 
servation shall if possible possess the power 
fully, accurately, and with vividness to write 
about what they have observed. 
Kermit shot many other animals, among 
them three fine oryx, one of which he rode 
down on horseback, manoeuvring so that at 
last it galloped fairly close by across his 
front, whereupon he leaped off his horse 
for the shot; an ardwolf (a miniature hyena 
