CAMP THIEVES AND SCAVENGERS 89 circle round, watching with keen vision for a further opportunity.

Vultures sit around sullenly expecting the shifting of the camp, waiting to chime in with the others, but rejecting that which the buzzards—foul feeders as they are—consume. The omnipresent and cheerful crow keeps industriously on the move, and his neat appearance when at rest contrasts pleasantly with the ragged, dirty aspect of the buzzard.

The site of a camp recently moved is a lesson in scavenging : buzzards and vultures crowd the ground in all postures ; the marabout, called Abu Sin (" father of teeth "), from his immense bill, joins in the quest while minutije of crumbs and the savoury skimmings of meat tins go to the share of numberless ants.

One day three hartebeest, hitherto unseen, dashed from behind a clump and galloped away, carrying their narrow, long-drawn-out heads high in the air. Roan antelopes appeared midst the trees, and through the grass I distinguished the great forms, as bulky as that of a horse, with thick necks and stout, back-curved horns. Between us were some reed-buck which proved my undoing. So successful a stalk was made on hands and knees that I arrived within 20 yards of these fawncoloured creatures, and marked the quick movements of the male. Progress was useless ; the reed-buck caught our wind, I saw his lips lift up as he gave a shrill cry, and away the herd bounded toward the roan, sending them onwards.