334 AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 



race. Gray's name, however, was only based on the ob- 

 servations made by Sir John Kirk and was not founded on 

 a specimen or a definite locahty and does not apply to this 

 race. 



Kermit was the only one of our party who went into the 

 sable country. He took a small safari thither from Mom- 

 basa and collected three specimens. The sable were not 

 plentiful, and were shy. It was near the coast, a well- 

 watered, hilly country, the rushing streams bordered by 

 palms and the surface consisting of grassy plains varied by 

 groves of trees and brushwood. It was hot and wet and 

 the grass was long. The sable fed in the open plains until 

 nine or ten in the morning, and then retired to the thick 

 brush of the groves where they lay down until about five in 

 the afternoon, when they again came forth to feed. They 

 were grazers. One of those he killed, a full-grown cow, was 

 very savage and tried to charge, but was too crippled to be 

 dangerous. While resting during the day the animals, in 

 spite of their conspicuous coats, were difficult to find or 

 approach because they lay in cover so thick as to conceal 

 them, and it required careful still-hunting to get them. In 

 the plains they were, of course, very conspicuous, and their 

 wariness made them hard to stalk. They went in little 

 bands — they were not sufficiently numerous to gather in big 

 herds. 



The East African race of the sable may be distinguished 

 from the typical race of the Zambesi basin by its much 

 smaller size and more rufous coloration. The female is 

 usually a bright rufous, seldom, if ever, assuming the black 

 coat characteristic of the male, as she does in the south. 

 The male is a decidedly smaller animal than the typical 

 sable, with much smaller horns, the skull in the adult being 



