The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1907-02-15


from clump of thick bushes in his
vicinity, and will perceive the birds
dashing into the cover and creating
a disturbance to which he may re-
sent; but let him have patience. and
observe closely the doings of his
noisy companions; presently from
out the thicket shambles a bear
whose attention is SO entirely occu-
pied by the irritating attacks of his
winged tOrmentors, that he fails to
notice that far more deadly enemy
is near at hand, eager to encompass
his destruction. This is indeed a
danger signal, but a signal full of
danger to the shutting quadruped.
Let us quit the wooded slopes Of
the Himalayas, and plunge into the
vast forests covering the so-caued
plains of India. and see whether or
no we can record further instances in
which predaceous animals locality
is often betrayed by other members
of feral life. The hunter is carefully
threading his way along a Jungle
path, keeping watchful eye on his
immediate surroundings. From a
neighboring hill side comes waited
on the gentle breeze the sound of an
unusual commotiOn; the loud and
noisy cackling of startled Jungle
fowl, and the far-reaching bark of
four-horned antelope, and the pc
culiar note of an affrighted peafowl
as it flashes over the tree-tops, clear
ly indicates that some carnivorous
beast is on the roam. A few PAGES
further on small patch of ground
has been scratched bare of it's leafy
covering, and from the droppings it
is easy to deduce that panther has
just been visiting the spot. The
monkey tribe frequently plays
prominent part in the revelation of
the vicinity of that king among
beasts, the tiger How often, on
scorching day in April or May, has
the sportsman enscOnced in plat
form guarding the exit from some
shady ravine surveyed with anxious
gaze the capers Of a troop of chat
tering, gibbering, swearing apes, as
they leap and swing from the spread
ing branches of one fOIiage-stripped
tree to another, peering the while
at the yellow gliding form of the
striped enemy beneath them, as it
is driven from its lair by horde of
ill-clad beaters. No surer indication
as to the nature of the occasioner of
this incessant uprOar is needed by
man or beast, and the lissome and
the sinewy brute knows full we'll the
significance of the cIamor around
him, for he shows his annoyance at
the excited gesticulations Of the
quadrumanous forms that are dog
ging his footsteps so persistently, by
the utterance of an occasional angry
snarl
We will now leave the sweltering
plains of India and cross the Indian
Ocean, bound for the open and
grassy veldt of Southern Africa,
which half a century ago teemed
with animal life, where countless
battalions of antelopes of many diff
ferent species roam far and wide,
where the rolling karroo was black
with game of every description. But
now the hunter naturalist will have
to go further afeld to find the o0-
ject of his pursuit; and there are
some animals for which he will seek
in vain, however long or carefully
he may search, for they have been
eXterminated, wiped off the face of
the earth by the ruthless hand Of
man. That unwieldy behemoth, the
hlppopotamus, now fast disappearing
from the numerous rivers, which rot
so long ago used to be frequented
| by it in considerable numbers, has
usually a small bird, scarce six
inches in length, in close attendance.
picking off the various parasites.
The treble-colored plover, however,
is useful in another way to the sea-
COW, as the colonists term it; for
when the slightest sign of danger
is detected, it gives timely warning
to the bulky quadruped Another
remarkable example Of a bird acting
in the capacity Of a sentinel is to be
found in connection with the white
rhinoceros. We cannot do better
than quote the manner in which II.
Anderson Dryden alludes to it in his
interesting book, Mature and Sport
in South Africa"
Stupid, sleepy, short-sighted and
easily approached as were these
rhinoceroses in the golden days OF
South African sport, they yet had
in addition to their own keen powers
OF scent very constant ally and
friend, too, almost always in at
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