THE ROAN ANTELOPE 7 1 



allusion to its habitat : besides its brighter colour- 

 ing the West African roan has the ears even 

 longer than in the typical South African form. 

 The western subspecies was first known from two 

 or three living specimens brought home by Whit- 

 field on the SS. " African " in 1848; these were 

 all young animals intended for the splendid 

 menagerie which the thirteenth Earl of Derby was 

 then maintaining at Knowsley Hall near Liver- 

 pool. One of the antelopes died in London on 

 its way to Knowsley and was mounted for the 

 Derby Museum. On the death of Lord Derby 

 in 1851 his splendid collection of preserved speci- 

 mens, including the roan antelope, became the 

 property of the city of Liverpool, and is now 

 housed in the Liverpool Museum. The Liverpool 

 specimen, although immature, agrees with the 

 Senegambian adult cow at Antwerp, both in its 

 coloration and in its immense ears : the horns 

 are only about three inches long and are very 

 slightly curved at the extreme tips. 



Travellers have assured us that the larger 

 antelopes in spite of their size are not of 

 necessity conspicuous when seen amongst their 

 natural surroundings : and further, that even 

 waterbuck, roan, or sable antelope may be effec- 

 tually concealed when standing amongst the 

 shadows of thick bush. I recently had an oppor- 

 tunity of verifying this, though the animal con- 



