300 ANTELOPES 



in the hinterland of the Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, or the Gambia, 

 and I cannot hear of it at all in the hinterland of the Cameroons. 

 It is probably very local in habitat, and not so general throughout 

 the hinterlands of West Africa as the hartebeest. I imagine it is 

 confined to districts separated from each other by more or less long 

 stretches of country, where it is unknown. On the Niger its southern 

 limit may be placed at 7 30' north latitude, and it is known through- 

 out the middle Niger, and also reported by natives as existing in 

 places in the big bend of the Niger, and between the Niger and Lake 

 Tchad. While it is found in the light bush which the hartebeest 

 frequents, it evinces a decided preference for the more open country 

 farther north, and occurs in fair numbers in open country in Yauri, on 

 the left bank of the Niger, in latitude 1 1 " to 12° north. 



" Shy in its general habits, it avoids cultivation or other haunts of 

 men to a greater degree than most antelopes, and it may be roughly 

 stated that where the population of a district is large, and villages and 

 farms lie close together, the roan antelope is not to be found. These 

 antelopes are more often met with singly or in pairs than in herds ; and 

 I have never seen them in proximity to other antelopes except on 

 one occasion, when a herd of hartebeest galloped up to me as I was 

 drawing a bead on a roan bull. In pairs they range over a large extent 

 of country in a day, and do not appear to lie up or rest much during 

 daylight. As they wander they feed at intervals, moving quickly over 

 the country, and rarely stopping in one spot. At night they lie 

 up on rising ground, and care little whether they rest in the open, 

 under trees, or among rocks. Stony ground is not an unlikely 

 place in which to come across them ; and I have even seen them 

 scrambling over the big boulders of the ' kopjes ' of the middle Niger 

 district. 



" Their spoor can be distinguished from that of the hartebeest and 

 waterbuck by its greater size, and more especially by the depth of 

 the slot ; their weight being easily inferred from the spoor on any 

 ground which will retain a permanent impression. Opinions as to the 

 speed of the West African roan vary considerably. Some sportsmen 

 do not consider them abnormally fleet, and assert that the hartebeest 

 can easily distance them. Others affirm that in their grand stately 

 action they cover an immense distance in very short time, and that 

 they can keep up the swinging canter, their favourite pace, for a long 

 time. 



" In hunting roan antelope it seems more or less useless to follow 

 their tracks in the hope of coming up with them. They travel so quickly 



