' 214 ^ 



inlly lulnlt and its mlder was full df milk, tlionph uo calves were seen ; there were 

 about eleven other yiwafe.s with her. 



1 noticed that in all adult ffmnlex the aiinnlations are ]iracti('ally absent on 

 horns for the four inches of their lower or basal extremity, whilst on the distal side 

 they again become welJ marked. 



The flesh is very srood eating — especially the half-grown beast. 



18. Roan Antelope. Hippotragus equinus ((u-olf.). 



This antelope shared with the Pnkn and Zebras an immunity from the 

 " rinderpest " which swept the game off the Nyassa-Tangauyika Plateau, since 

 some friends of mine shot several fine specimens. This disease appears to have 

 travelled some distance down the western shore of Lake Nyassa, and then taken a 

 south-westerly trend, to enter Mashonaland by crossing some of the western tributaries 

 of the Zambezi; it never entered the Sliir^ River valley. 



Some friends told me they had seen them on the east bank of the Upper Shir^ 

 River, but when I came to cross-question them, they could not describe the face- 

 marking, so that they might have heea females of the foregoing species. Tliey were 

 said to be irond to eat. 



lit. Lichtenstein's Hartebeest. Alcelaphus lichtensteini (Ptrs.). 



This Imbaline antelope has a wide distribntion in Nyassahuid proper, but is not 

 found on the banks of the Zambe/.i River below its junction with the Lciwer .Shire 

 River. It is usually met with in parties of from ibur to a dozen and a half individuals. 

 They are very wary, and always found feeding on the open "dambos" ; they pass 

 fh rough belts of woodland at a trot, and are very prone to post a sentinel on an 

 ant-heap when there ha])])ens to be sui'h a beacon in the neighbourhood. Disturbed, 

 they retreat in Indian tile, with a recognised pilot, often an old fcmide, and if you 

 knocked this leader over you could get several chances at a troop, if your object was 

 merely indiscriminate slaughter. 



Although they are so shy, they are at the same time very inquisitive, and will 

 often pause in their awkward lumbering canter, and turn their heads round to have 

 a look at you when out of shot, before they finally disappear. If they are in the 

 vicinity of other game they will always take an independent line of retreat. They 

 affect particular spots and will return to the same spot to feed, so that if you have 

 shot over the ground you may sometimes know where to find them. I have shot 

 both sexes with dried mud on the horns and forehead, so that they probably have 

 the same wallowing habits that I noted in the Blue Wildebeest {P. '/.. S. ISOij, p. 360). 

 The two finest adults I shot gave respectively the following measurements :— 



