COLORATION 101 



roan, and oryx, in that order, most resembled in their body 

 patterns the coloration of the wild ass, and were, on the 

 whole, the most difficult of the big game to see when feed- 

 ing or resting. The face markings of the oryx and roan 

 and the long horns of the oryx possessed some advertising 

 value; and both eland and oryx, when not too distant, were 

 advertised by the continual switching of their long, black- 

 tipped tails; again and again, if the animals were among 

 bushes or trees, it was this continual tail-switching which 

 first betrayed their presence. Doubtless the same thing is 

 true of the roan, but we happened not to observe it. When 

 at a distance such that the various black and white mark- 

 ings and the horns were invisible or indistinct, the general 

 body color of all three animals harmonized well with the 

 ordinarily almost leafless or brown-leafed scrub and dry 

 grass; if in company with hartebeest, wildebeest, or zebra, 

 any of these three animals were almost always seen before 

 the eland, oryx, or roan. In the flood of bright sunlight 

 which was usual the wildebeest was most conspicuous, 

 near or far; at night it was, on the average, most conspicu- 

 ous, although on moonlight nights the zebra sometimes 

 seemed white, and was then the most conspicuous animal 

 of all. The topi, perhaps because of its inversely counter- 

 shaded coloration, came next to the wildebeest in conspicu- 

 ousness under average conditions, while of the hartebeest 

 and zebra one was the more conspicuous under certain con- 

 ditions of light and shade, and the other when the condi- 

 tions were reversed, the coloration of both being normally, 

 and at the most important crises of the animals' lives, 

 advertising and not concealing. The bull sable, buck 

 white-eared kob, and buck white-withered lechwi possessed 



