and seized another water-skin that a woman had
dropped in her flight. They believe this to be
the • same monster that took a woman a few
months ago. Few creatures are so sly and wary
as the crocodile. I watch them continually as
they attack the dense flocks of small birds that
throng the bushes at the water’s edge. These
birds are perfectly aware of the danger, and they
fly from the attack, if possible. The crocodile
then quietly and innocently lies upon the surface,
as though it had appeared quite by an accident;
it thus attracts the attention of the birds, and it
slowly sails away to a considerable distance, exposed
to their view. The birds, thus beguiled
by the deceiver, believe that the danger is removed,
and they again flock to the bush, and
once more dip their thirsty beaks into the stream.
Thus absorbed in slaking their thirst, they do
not observe that their enemy is no longer on
the surface. A sudden splash, followed by a
huge pair of jaws beneath the bush that engulfs
some dozens of victims, is the signal- unexpectedly
given of the crocodile’s return, who has
thus slily dived, and hastened under cover of
water to his victims. I have seen the crocodiles
repeat this manoeuvre constantly; they deceive by
a feigned retreat, and then attack from below.
“ In like manner the crocodile perceives, while it
is floating on the surface in mid-stream, or from
the opposite side of the river, a woman filling her
HEAD OF BLACK RHINOCEROS. Seepage365.