Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 6 (1902).djvu/430

364 Antelope is thickly clothed in winter on neck, shoulders, and the body as far as the hind quarters with a dense covering of coarse dun-coloured hair, which falls out in summer, leaving the animal smooth-coated. Specimens in zoological gardens have this change of coat well marked in the month of May. As far as I have been able to observe, the hair falls out in irregular patches, commencing on each side of the spine, and spreading downwards from several centres, the greyish hue of the subjacent coat gradually appearing through the thinning pélisse. The heavy tuft of dark-brown hair covering the forehead is unaltered at all seasons, and traces of coarse hair likewise persist on the throat, chest, and sides. One of these Antelopes, in August, 1900, was of a general greyish white colour; frontal tuft brown, and vertex of head behind horns lighter brown; the throat-mane was also brown, and very scanty. Thus the coat of the animal in summer differs very markedly from its winter covering.

Hippotragus equinus (Roan Antelope).—Occasionally one has the opportunity of observing, as regards menagerie specimens, various occurrences which are frequently recorded of the animal in a wild state. Thus sportsmen have frequently pointed out that even large Antelopes like the Roan may, in spite of their size, be quite unrecognisable when standing in dense bush; and it has been most interesting to observe some confirmation of this as regards the Senegambian Roan Antelope, the most conspicuously marked of all the protean variations of H. equinus. One would reasonably suppose that an Antelope as large as a Horse, with black and white face, black legs, and chestnut body, would be seen easily enough under almost any conditions; yet a fine cow of this species at Antwerp, when standing in her paddock under some overhanging trees, was admirably concealed by her very coloration. The black of the face and legs harmonised completely with the shadows cast by the branches overhead, whilst the bright sunlight streaming through the interstices of the foliage merely revealed the chestnut-coloured body as a large surface of uniform colouring. Had this Antelope been standing amidst natural surroundings she would surely have escaped observation altogether.

Connochaetes taurinus (Brindled Gnu).—It may not be generally known that these extraordinary looking Antelopes—half