702 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



Selous (in Bryden, 1899, pp. 406-407) writes of the Roan as 

 follows : 



Roan antelopes had not yet become extinct in Griqualand West in 1886. 

 Travelling northwards I never met with this species either in British Bechuana- 

 land or along the western border of the Transvaal .... In the southern part 

 of the Bechuanaland Protectorate, along the Notwani River and on the 

 Upper Limpopo, near the junction of that river with the Marico, I have both 

 seen and shot roan antelopes; and from there eastwards and northwards this 

 species used to be generally distributed throughout the greater portion of 

 South-East Africa, including the northern and eastern portions of the Trans- 

 vaal, as well as certain districts in Swaziland and Amatongaland, in all of 

 which latter territories, however, it has now become very scarce. [It is] not 

 uncommon along both banks of the Chobi River. In the flat coast country 

 between the mouth of the Buzi River [Beira] and the Zambesi, the roan 

 antelope is, to the best of my belief, unknown, and it is also absent from all 

 the low-lying country on both sides of the Zambesi as far as the Victoria 

 Falls. In fact I cannot remember to have met with this species in any part of 

 South-East Africa where the altitude of the country was much less than 3000 

 feet above sea level. 



North of the Orange River "it was formerly found in Griqualand 

 West, and southern Bechuanaland, though hardly now surviving in 

 those regions; it is still fairly abundant in German South-west 

 Africa, in Matabeleland and Mashonaland . . .; it is also found, 

 though now very rarely, in the eastern districts of the Transvaal, 

 and has been recorded as far south as Swaziland. North of the 

 Zambesi the roan is not uncommon in Barotse, Manica and Nyasa- 

 land." (W.-L. Sclater, 1900, vol. 1, pp. 219-220.) 



It is fairly numerous locally in parts of Kruger National Park 

 (Warden of Kruger National Park, in lilt., December, 1936) . 



Roberts (1937, p. 778) says: 



At present the roan occurs mainly in such reserves as Kruger National 

 Park, and only elsewhere within the Union limits on an estate in Swaziland 

 and a few farms in the eastern and northern Transvaal, thanks either to the 

 proximity of the Kruger National Park or the wilder country north of our 

 Union boundaries. It extends widely over the bushveld beyond our limits, 

 and is, therefore, not in immediate danger of extermination; but that should 

 be no reason why more should not be done for its conservation outside the 

 sanctuaries, in places where sportsmen can legally secure trophies of its 

 beautiful head and horns. 



The range includes the western part of Mozambique (Shortridge, 

 1934, p. 570) . 



In South-West Africa the range of the Roan is now restricted to 

 the northeastern corner of the country (chiefly beyond Etosha Pan 

 and Grootfontein) ; it includes the Caprivi. The animals are fairly 

 numerous in parts of this territory. (Shortridge, 1934, pp. 569-570, 

 map facing p. 570.) 



