22 
African Game Trails 
the tough shells with stones. The cock and 
hen will try to draw their more formidable 
foes away from the nest of the chicks by 
lingering so near as to lure them into pur¬ 
suit; and anything up to the size of a hyena 
they will attack and drive away, or even 
kill. The terrific downward stroke of an 
ostrich’s leg is as dangerous as the kick of a 
horse; the thump will break a rib or back¬ 
bone of any ordinary animal, and in addi¬ 
tion to the force of the blow itself the big 
nails may make a ghastly rip. Both cock 
and hen lead about the young brood and 
care for it. The two ostriches I shot were 
swarming with active parasitic flies, a little 
like those that were on the lions I shot in 
the Sotik. Later the porters brought us in 
several ostrich chicks. They also brought 
two genet kittens, which I tried to raise, 
but failed. They were much like ordinary 
kittens, with larger ears, sharper noses, 
and longer tails, and loved to perch on my 
shoulder or sit on my lap while I stroked 
them. They made dear little pets, and I 
was very sorry when they died. 
On the day that I shot the cock ostrich 
I also shot a giraffe. The country in 
which we were hunting marks the southern 
limit of the “reticulated” giraffe, a form 
or species entirely distinct from the gi¬ 
raffe we had already obtained in the coun¬ 
try south of Kenia. The southern giraffe 
is blotched with dark on a light ground, 
whereas this northern or north-eastern form 
is of a uniform dark color on the back and 
sides, with a net-work or reticulation of 
white lines placed in a large pattern on this 
dark background. The naturalists were 
very anxious to obtain a specimen of this 
form from its southern limit of distribu¬ 
tion, to see if there was any intergradation 
with the southern form, of which we had 
already shot specimens near its northern, 
or at least north-eastern, limit. The dis¬ 
tinction proved sharp. 
On the day in question we breakfasted 
at six in the morning, and were off immedi¬ 
ately afterward; and we did not eat any¬ 
thing again until supper at quarter to ten 
in the evening. In a hot climate a hunter 
does not need lunch; and though in a cold 
climate a simple lunch is permissible, any¬ 
thing like an elaborate or luxurious lunch 
is utterly out of place if the man is more 
than a parlor or drawing-room sportsman. 
We saw no sign of giraffe until late in the 
afternoon. Hour after hour we plodded 
across the plain, now walking, now riding, 
in the burning heat. The withered grass 
was as dry as a bone, for the country had 
been many months without rain; yet the 
oryx, zebra, and gazelle evidently throve 
on the harsh pasturage. There were in¬ 
numerable game trails leading hither and 
thither, and, after the fashion of game 
trails, usually fading out after a few hun¬ 
dred yards. But there were certain trails 
which did not fade out. These were the 
ones which led to water. One such we 
followed. It led across stretches of grass¬ 
land, through thin bush, thorny and al¬ 
most leafless, over tracts of rotten soil, 
cracked and crumbling, and over other 
tracts where the unshod horses picked their 
way gingerly among the masses of sharp- 
edged volcanic stones. Other trails joined 
in, and it grew more deeply marked. At 
last it led to a bend in a little river, where 
flat shelves of limestone bordered a kind of 
pool in the current where there were beds 
of green rushes and a fringe of trees and 
thorn thickets. This was evidently a favor¬ 
ite drinking place. Many trails converged 
toward it, and for a long distance round the 
ground was worn completely bare by the 
hoofs of the countless herds of thirsty game 
that had travelled thither from time im¬ 
memorial. Sleek, handsome, long-horned 
oryx, with switching tails, were loitering in 
the vicinity, and at the water hole itself we 
surprised a band of gazelles not fifty yards 
off; they fled panic-struck in every direc¬ 
tion. Men and horses drank their fill; and 
we returned to the sunny plains and the 
endless reaches of withered, rustling grass. 
At last, an hour or two before sunset, 
when the heat had begun a little to abate, 
we spied half a dozen giraffes scattered a 
mile and a half ahead of us, feeding on the 
tops of the few widely separated thorn-trees. 
Cuninghame and I started toward them on 
foot, but they saw us when we were a mile 
away, and after gazing a short while, turned 
and went off at their usual rocking-horse 
canter, twisting and screwing their tails. 
We mounted and rode after them. I was 
on my zebra-shaped brown horse, which 
was hardy and with a fair turn of speed, 
and which by this time I had trained to be a 
good hunting horse. On the right were 
two giraffe which eventually turned out to 
be a big cow followed by a nearly full- 
