462 AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 



antelope harmonized well with the dry landscape, and they 

 were more difficult to make out than the hartebeests. 



These eland are said speedily to leave a district if they 

 are harassed by hunters. They wander far, their wandering 

 being sometimes seasonal and sometimes due to individual 

 vagaries. It is said that in the rainy season, when the grass 

 is thick and tall, they are often killed by lions, which are 

 then able to get so close as to seize them by the head; but 

 that in the dry season few are killed by lions because then 

 the big cat can rarely make his rush from such a short dis- 

 tance as to insure a grasp of the head, while the quarry is 

 so huge and strong that if seized elsewhere it can generally 

 break away. 



The giant or Nile Derby eland differs from the typical 

 race from the Senegal region chiefly by lighter color in the 

 bull, the females of the two races being quite similar in color 

 and size. In the Derby eland the old bull has the neck 

 covered by long black hair, but in the Nile race the lower 

 sides and throat lack the long black hair; this part being 

 covered by thin grayish hair like the sides. The material 

 available of the Derby eland, however, is very scanty. The 

 only specimens examined were a male and female skin at 

 the British Museum. The Nile race is much better repre- 

 sented in collections and it is quite certain that uniformly 

 black-necked bulls such as the Derby eland at the British 

 Museum do not occur in the Nile district. The most 

 heavily maned bull examined is that shot by Colonel 

 Roosevelt in the Lado. The long black hair covers the 

 whole nape in this specimen and extends half-way down on 

 the sides. The younger bull from the same locality shows 

 only a narrow dorsal mane on the nape. 



The old bull shot by Colonel Roosevelt has the ground- 

 color of the body vinaceous-buif which becomes on the shoul- 

 ders and the hind quarters ochraceous-buff and on the lower 

 sides merges gradually into the cream-buff of the under-parts. 

 A white dorsal stripe of irregular width extends from the black 



