IMPALAH 



^EPYCEROS MELAMPUS 



SWAHILI : Sw ALLAH. MASAI : NDARAWET 



OUITE the prettiest of the smaller 

 antelopes it is possible to imagine, 

 I think. Bright foxy red, with most 

 beautiful spreading horns. One notices 

 in this species, in common with a few other 

 African antelopes, that when it is looking at one 

 the inside of the ears seems all barred black and 

 white, which adds greatly, in my opinion, to its 

 beauty. It has two tufts of black hair on its hind 

 legs just above the fetlock, which I fancy are 

 altogether peculiar to the species. The females 

 carry no horns. 



On being alarmed, the herd very often cannot 

 make head or tail of the strange object in front of 

 them, and the females stamp and snort before 

 they make off. Directly one moves hand or 

 foot, and fires a shot, however, the whole herd 

 goes off with a series of tremendous bounds, 

 sometimes over bushes, but generally over 

 nothing. This is another peculiarity of the im- 

 palah, and a very pretty and extraordinary sight 



