close to his side, and springing upon him; therefore I am convinced that the rush of no wild animal exceeds 24 miles an hour, or three times the speed of a man. (See Measurements of the rate of an animal’s gallop, p. 37.) It is perfectly easy for a person who is cool, to avoid an animal, by dodging to one side or other of a bush.  Few animals turn, if the rush be unsuccessful.  The buffalo is an exception; he regularly hunts a man, and is therefore peculiarly dangerous.  Unthinking persons talk of the fearful rapidity of a lion or tiger’s spring.  It is not rapid at all:  it is a slow movement, as must be evident from The following consideration.  No wild animal can leap ten yards, and they all make a high trajectory in their leaps.  Now, think of the speed of a ball thrown, or rather pitched, with just sufficient force to be caught by a person ten yards off:  it is a mere nothing.  The catcher can play with it as he likes; he has even time to turn after it, if thrown wide.  But the speed of a springing animal is undeniably the same as that of a ball, thrown so as to make a flight of equal length and height in the air.  The corollary to all this is, that, if charged, you must keep cool and watchful, and your chance of escape is far greater than non-sportsmen would imagine.  The blow of the free paw is far swifter than the bound.

Dogs kept at bay.—­A correspondent assures me that “a dog flying at a man may be successfully repelled by means of a stout stick held horizontally, a hand at each end, and used to thrust the dog backwards over, by meeting him across the throat or breast.  If followed by a blow on the nose, as the brute is falling, the result will be sooner attained.”

A watch-dog usually desists from flying at a stranger when he seats himself quietly on the ground, like Ulysses.  The dog then contents himself with barking and keeping guard until his master arrives.

Hiding Game.—­In hiding game from birds of prey, brush it over, and they will seldom find it out; birds cannot smell well, but they have keen eyes.  The meat should be hung from an overhanging bough; then, if the birds find it out, there will be no place for them to stand on and tear it.  Leaving a handkerchief or a short to flutter from a tree, will scare animals of prey for a short time. (See “Scarecrows."_

Tying up your Horse.—­You may tie your horse, on a bare plain, to the horns of an animal that you have shot, while you are skinning him, but it is better to hobble the horse with a stirrup-leather. (See “Shooting-horse.”)

Division of Game.—­Some rules are necessary in these matters, to avoid disputes, especially between whites and natives; and therefore the custom of the country must be attended to.  But it is a very general and convenient rule (though, like all fixed rules, often unfair) that the animal should belong to the Man who first wounded him, however slight the wound might have been; but that he or they who actually