ROAN, SABLE, AND ORYX 331 



The white patch in front of the eye ends in a considerable tuft 

 of very conspicuous longer hairs. The very long, pointed 

 ears are cinnamon on the back and around the base, pen- 

 cilled with black at the tips, and have the inside white. The 

 dorsal mane of stiff, erect hairs, the longest attaining a length 

 of five inches, is cinnamon at the base, tawny above, and ter- 

 minally black, and extends from behind the ears to the mid- 

 dle of the back. The chest and the inside of the forelegs are 

 seal-brown, and the outside is tawny, marked by a wide stripe 

 of seal-brown. The belly and the inside of the hind legs 

 are white. The tail reaches the hocks and has a tuft of long, 

 black hairs at its extremity. Newly born young are uniform 

 cinnamon without the black leg stripes, but with a narrow 

 band of black bordering the false hoofs. They have the tip 

 of the tail blackish; and the top of snout walnut-brown. 

 Stripe before eye, tip of muzzle, lips, chin, and forethroat 

 are white. The ears are cinnamon with slightly darker 

 tips and whitish inner surface. The under-parts are white. 



Four specimens have been examined from the crest of the 

 Mau Escarpment near Ravine Station and two others from 

 the German border near the Victoria Nyanza. The gen- 

 eral tone of coloration in these skins is very light, notwith- 

 standing the high, moist character of the country which 

 they inhabit. Skins from the Nile match them quite mi- 

 nutely in general color tone. In British East Africa the roan 

 are very local, being split up into small herds living in iso- 

 lated bits of territory. The crest of the Mau Escarpment 

 west of Ravine Station is the home of one of these herds. 

 Another is stationed near Muhoroni, on the Uganda Railway, 

 on the west face of the same escarpment, but much farther 

 south and lower in altitude; still another herd haunts the 

 region near the Ithangi Hills southeast of Fort Hall. A 

 herd is also known to range from Sultan Hamound north- 

 ward as far as Machakos by way of the Kui Hills. The 

 greater number, however, are found in the Amala River 

 drainage, on the German border, not far from the Victoria 

 Nyanza. In this region many herds occur. 



The measurements of the different sexes in the flesh 

 show them to be of practically the same size. An adult 

 male specimen measured in the flesh: head and body, 77 

 inches; tail, 25 inches; hind foot, 24^^ inches; ear, iij^ 



