Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-08-22
In Closed Territory
Continued from page IL
Continued from page IL

| Continued f.,
the gravelly streambed. which crunched to our
| lghtest tread
| How many were there2 Ouieu sabea Massed
| in the onrush of mad flight. it sounded like two
| thousand; in fact as we'll could judge
| from the tracks merging outside the bush into
| great. broad improvised road there were be-
| tween twenty and forty.
If seeing alone was believing, there were no
elephant, for not the smallest glimpse OF one
/ did any OF our party get.
| But there all about lay bark stripped boughs,
the wreck of their luncheon; there on the
! sturdler treetrunks within few yards OF our
position was the wet mud of their rub downs |!
| On their spoor we followed until we realized
that it useless to go farther. Off they were,
| as usual in such cases, for a thirty or forty
| mile constitutional, headed toward the klsll
Highlands.
So we headed for camp, reaching there long
after dark, just as tired as if we had really done
something.
Guided by Hungry Birds
ONE more day we lay at the "Looseand-
~ glddy camp Clrclng the country again
carefully as far as we could reach, until con-
WINGED that all sign of elephant whereabouts had
been made by the departed herd. While profit
less of game. the day was interesting and anus
ing: | was ranging to the south. alone with
Habia, incidentally looking for Llchtensteln
Dult WHICH L ndu WOUNDED late the previous
evening near camp and had trekked off that
way
A country where tracking an individual buck
was impossible. my only guide to his retreat
was the birds, the vultures. marabous. These
carrlon feeders must certainly be gifted with
eyesight of high telescope power. Drop kill
without a bird in sight. and before you get the
skin off usually, the i'll favored tribe are all
about you in thick flight glaring hungry
down from perch in neighborng treetops.
Iai vol he
fore he IS spied by some winged scout soaring
SO high in the blue that he is an almost indis-
tinguishable speck, and then it is only matter
OF nstantS when. by some weird signal code
none but the birds themselves will ever know
a .-:erciless crew is cruising near above him.
from which there Is for him no escape II he once
goes down for, by some cruelty cunning telon
instinct. their first assault is upon his dirnmng
eyes.
Nor. though strong enough to keep his feet
for hours fight off attack if down, may he
reckon escape. All day long they hover
above him. all night long perch about whatever
bushy nook in which he may be valnly seeking
rest.
1t is bad enough to shoot and kill any harm
less beast, expainabe only an irrepressble
survival of aboriginal instincts, bred into some
of us past eradication by generations of an
cestral skIn-wearlng two-legged carnlvore; but
it is absolutely wicked to wound such and
leave them. and never leave wounded beast
SO long as chance remains of reaching and fin
ishing him.
The Lchtenstein, however, proved too
strong for both man and bird. Early, within
two miles of camp. slow soaring. circling crew
of birds marked him down for on high hill
slope covered with grass. rocks and bush that
could not get through without so much
noise that approach impossible. Off he
would go each time at such pace-shown by
the fast shifting birds-that after two hours
saw further pursuit must be useless
Then swung the top of the high
hill had been following, and | got superb
view of the great valley of the Maggori River
and its wide watershed far south into German
territory, the distant hills showing line of
smoke that told of dense native settlement
A Nasal Honey Hunter
DESCENDING toward the river, suddenly
my Nasal stopped and bent and listened.
We were in good elephant country sign all
about immediate right deep, heavily
tirnbered gorge, and | too paused to listen;
but all could hear was the peculiar twitter-
twitter of fitting flock of tiny birds, strange
to
Presently, off down hill darted Habia faster
than could follow such bad going. out of
my sight in a half-dozen jumps. Whatever had
bitten him whatever he after. | could
not fancy; but on | followed.
Shortly | found him, at the turn of bush,
of