Evening star., 1923-11-25
Leopard Is Killed in Furious Hand -to land Battle With

~Of~~
~ Mr.. Akeley had extraordinary en-.
counters with elephants and lions, ~
described In previous lnstaIIments, stilI
Che following barehanded grappIe with
q leopard comes Close to taking the
prIxe OF aIi big game hunting expert
eness. This 10 the fourth Of series OF
I've remarkable articles, by one OF the
most distinguished Of American ex.
elersrs and natural scientists, upon
hunting the wild beasts OF Africa.
BY CARL e. AKELEY.
WENT one time q long way into
the wateriess desert Of Somali-
land to hunt ostriches. After
being continually outwitted by
them for two days I began to think
Ill Of the man who originally started
the story about this birds stupidity.
With the difficulties OF the chase
firmly In mind set out early on the
third day to see II could get speci-
men plume bearer Concluding that
the smaller the party the better the
opportunity. I took only a mule and
my horseboy.
There is a general belief frmiy
hxed in the popular mind by constant
repetition that the ostrich Is very
stupid bird. man might we'll ex-
pect easy hunting Of a bird that tried
to hide by the traditional method or
sticking its head in the sand. But
with the ostrich. as with other At
rican game. found that they did not
always realize their obligation to ira
dition or abide by the rules set down
for their behavior.
One time we were just across the
Haud and were camped in q tug"
or dry stream bed where by digging
we could get water for our sixty men
and the camels During two days OF
hunting in the dry bush Of this des-
srt I had seen many ostriches, but
none Of them had put its head into
the ground and left Its big black
plumed body for me to shoot at. On
the contrary. In this. my first es-
perience with them. I found them
exceedingly wary. They kept their
bodies hidden behind the bush. Only
their heads were exposed, each head
only about large enough to carry
pair of very keen eyes and much too
small to serve as a target at the dis
tance that they maintained.
Soon after this / climbed to the top
Of a ternnite hill about eight feet
high to look the country over with
field glasses. AS l held the glasses to
my eyes while adjusting the focus. 1
suddenly realized that the letter S
that I was focusing on was the head
and neck OF an ostrich and that there
was q second letter S beside 1t. The
birds remained perfectly motlcnless
watching and dir iikew;se. locating
their position meanwhile by the ter
mite hills which were nearly in line
between us. Suddenly the heads
ducked and disappeared behind the
bush. I dropped from my perch and
ran rapidly to where they had been.
but found only their trail in the sand.
When had given up tracking them
and was about to start farther aheld
I came to an opening In the bush that
was about thirty yards wide and zoo
yards long. Near the center Of the
opening was dense green bush a
dozen feet In diameter. A beautiful
cock ostrich broke into the clearing
ae full speed just below the bush ana
behind the bush. 60 I held ready to
catch him as he passed out from be-
hind 1t on tho other side. where there
were fifteen or twenty yards of clear
ground before he would reach cover
again.
stood there ready with my gun up
until felt foolish. Then / ran quick
" 20 the bush expecting to find him
Just on the other side. He was no.
where In sight. but his trail told the
story. As he had come into the open
no had seen me and when behind the
bush he had stopped short as indicat-
Cd by . great hole and swirl Of sand
where he had caught himself by one
foot. had turned at right angles and
run straight away the length of the
clearing, keeping the bush between
himself and his enemy. I have not
known many animals to do a more
clever thing than this. got one shot
n him later-putting my sights at
800 yards--but the bullet struck In the
sand between his legs.
4 i + y
uyHEN only half mile from camp
met an old hyena who was
1oaAng along after q night out He
looked like . good specimen, but
after shot him. one le"e at his dead
carcass was enough to sly me that
he was not as desira as had
thought, for his skin IS badly dis
eased. I had very good reason to
think Of this very hard later In the
day. A little farther along I shot
. good wart hog for our scientific
collection. Leaving the specimen
where 1t lay. I marked the spot and
continued In search Of ostr,ches.
We returned to camp later in the
afternoon. having sighted but not
gotten any birds, and after . little
rest and refreshment I started out
again with only the horseboy and
carrying the necessary tools to get
the head Of the wart hog that had
shot in the morning. We had no diff
hculty In finding tho place where I
had siiot him. but there was nothing
to be seen OF the pig. The place was
strewn with vulture features, but
surely vultures could not make away
with the head. A crash In the bushes
at one side led me In a hurry In that
direction and q little later saw my
pigs head Ia the mouth OF q hyena
travelling up the slope Of a ridge out
Of range. That meant that my wart