Ebook The Game of British East Africa

Civilisation is advancing with such rapid strides in British East Africa that year by year it becomes more difficult to find and observe game still undisturbed by the sportsman and hunter. Another generation and perhaps there will be little or no opportunities of observing these animals as they existed before the net of civilisation had been drawn round them. It thus behoves anyone who has had the fortune to be thrown much with wild and unsophisticated animals to leave as careful a record as possible of their ways and manners of living while there is still opportunity, and to study them in their natural state. It is this consideration which has induced me to attempt the task of describing the wild life of the country to the best of my ability. I quite realise that I am not specially qualified for the work, and that there are many with greater experience of the country and game than I possess. However, I hope that perhaps in later years, when the lion no longer roars over the plain and the rhino has ceased to wander in the open, that this book, in conjunction with many others of a similar nature, may be of some little value in reconstructing what will then be past natural history.