^72 NATURE AND SPORT IN SOUTH AFRICA 



against the wood-work separating us. The keeper 

 informs me that this savage habit is increasing, and 

 that he doubts whether the Society will be long 

 able to retain the animal. I noticed that the 

 antelope's horns were sadly worn and broken from 

 butting and charging the wood-work of its stall. 

 It is possible that if the scheme for the preserva- 

 tion of game on a large scale in the interior of South 

 Africa be successfully carried through, the sable 

 antelope may yet be preserved to us for some years. 

 But, like the Scotchman, " I hae ma doots." Before 

 many years are past, I fear, the Zwart-wit-pens, one 

 of the stateliest and most glorious of the matchless 

 forms with which South Africa was once literally 

 overcrowded, will be well-nigh inaccessible, if not 

 extinct. 



