AN EXCITING SPORT.

Colonist, Volume LII, Issue 12765, 11 April 1910, Page 4

AN EXCITING SPORT.

A form of sport which has always had a fascination for me is waiting at night for a shot at lion or leopard by water or close to a killed, or tethered goat or donkey as a bait. . j There is an indescribable eeriness about this lonely night-watching in the dark and silent bush, it gives, too, j an opportunity for observing many j beasts seldom seen in the daytime, besides the game hoped for, especiaUy when the watch is over water, ' and every rustle and footfall of an approaching animal gives some excitement until one knows what it is. Perhaps a ratei will come trotting up like a little bear,, and drink in tho most business-like manner, with much noisy lapping ; then his place will be taken by a •striped hyaena ,with eyes gleaming green in the moonlight; he again may be followed by his miniature, the little Aard wolf or proteles. Once a long slim little genet, with spotted body and ringed tail, found its way into my shelter, climbed on to my shoulder, and touched my ear with it's nose beforo dashing out in alarm. Then, perhaps, the deep voice of a lion or the "sawing" grunts of a leopard will sound in the distant bush, and the nerVes brace themselves for its coming. On these occasions the thorns around one wliich look so prickly and thick in the daylight seem wonderfully thin and scanty from inside them I One incident of such a night's wait at jMogatta, on the Atbara. A party of three lions used to roam along this bit of the river every night, though I had seen nothing of them but their tracks. There was no moon, and in order to make the most of the starlight I tethered a goat on the brink of the bank, making my hide three paces inland of him. By this arrangement I could sco fairiy well against the open sheet ot starlit water beyond.. I had waited till about 1 a.m. when the goat suddenly faced round towards tho bush on my right, snorted and stamped a forefoot. There was a' thump! thump! of heavy bounding feet, and a grey form shot high over the-goat and disappeared beyond him. Instantly the rush was repeated from left to right, and again tbe animal leaped clean over the goat without touching it. I took it to be a lioness. Again from right to left came the rush and spring ; it was just playing with the goat. Onoe more out of the darkness came those thumping bounds, and this time the unfortunate goat was struck down in a second. I heard, its neck snap with a sharp crack. For a moment the two animals formed an indistinct black mass ; then one rose tugging the other sideways, and the flash of my big 10 bore sprang out at him. A burst of horribly menacing roaring somewhere close to me, and my visitor had vanished. I judged it prudent to stay whero 1 was till daw.ii. With the first light I crept out, and saw at once that the tracks were .those of a leopard, and not a lioness after all ; and there, 30 yards off, he lay, a heavy male leopard, with a very richly coloured and handsome ly marked skin. The 10-bore had punched a hole clean through him behind the shoulders.— A.L. Butler in "The Badminton Magazine."