ROAN ANTELOPE 



HIPPO TRAG US EQUINUS 

 SWAHILI : NELGUT. MASAI : LALGUT 



f ^H IS is an animal I do not pretend to 



know much about. 



It is of a grizzled red roan colour, 



with a long mane and huge ears, and 

 its face is marked in front, something like an oryx's, 

 with a big black blob. Its annulated horns have 

 a backward sweep, something like a water-buck's, 

 but turned the wrong way, and regularly di- 

 vergent, besides being more curved. A friend 

 of mine mistook a roan for a water-buck once 

 when the former was "on the list"! He only 

 saw its head, I must admit. The females carry 

 horns, but they are thinner. It is quite hard to 

 distinguish between the two sexes in a herd from 

 some distance away. 



I have only met roan for ten days, and man- 

 aged to secure a nice head. The animals being 

 only found in certain districts makes it hard to 

 describe "roan country," but it frequents grassy 

 bush, and is quite partial to hills thrown in now 

 and again. It likes a well- watered country, and 



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