ROAN, SABLE, AND ORYX 343 



but in some specimens it unites at its tip broadly with both 

 the black face blaze and the mandibular stripe to form a 

 solid dark ring about the muzzle near the tip, as is character- 

 istic of the South African gemsbok. 



Both sexes are alike in coloration. An adult male is 

 uniform ecru-drab on the dorsal surface, with the median 

 dorsal region marked by a broad black stripe from the 

 withers to within six inches of the base of the tail. The 

 lower sides are marked by a broad lateral stripe extending 

 from the knee band along the lower flanks to the hind quar- 

 ters, the stripe being widest posteriorly. The gray of the 

 sides borders the band below for a few inches where the color 

 merges gradually into the white under-parts. The forelegs 

 are white, marked with a broad band above the knee and a 

 narrow blackish streak on the front of the cannon-bone. The 

 false hoofs are narrowly bordered by black hair. The hind 

 limbs are vinaceous-drab, changing to white below the hocks, 

 and the false hoofs are bordered by black hair. The posterior 

 part of the limb below the hocks is marked by an ill-defined 

 blackish stripe. The under-parts are white from the chest 

 to the base of the tail. The tail at the base is drab like the 

 back and the tip has a long bush of black hair. The neck 

 is colored like the body and furnished on the nape with a 

 short mane. The median line of the throat is marked by a 

 broad black stripe from the head to the breast, where the 

 stripe forks and joins the lateral bands. The head is strik- 

 ingly marked black and white, the crown being black, bor- 

 dered by a cream-bufif band on the forehead from the horn 

 base across to the interorbital region, but narrowly separated 

 by a tongue from the black face blaze. The front of the face, 

 except the snout, is covered by a broad black blaze reaching 

 well down on the sides, but not extending nearer than half- 

 way to the tip of the snout. A broad dark streak extends 

 through the eye from the base of the horn to the angle of the 

 mouth and is separated from the face blaze by a wide streak" 

 of white. The snout, chin, and forethroat are wholly white. 

 The back of the head is drab. The ears are drab, the tips 

 for an inch being marked by blackish hair, and the inside of 

 the ear by white. A wide dark stripe extends from the base 

 of the ears downward and joins the dark median throat stripe. 

 The nursing young are very different from their parents in 



