ANTELOPES 91 



from one water to another, and stamped and gored him 

 to death, or, supposing him to have died from some other 

 cause, they had vented their rage on his dead carcass. 

 It is, of course, impossible to be sure what actually did 

 happen, but there seems no particular reason why they 

 should not have killed him under the circumstances. 



CHAPTER XI 



ANTELOPES (continued) 

 The Impala 



GIVEN its scientific name by the celebrated traveller and 

 naturalist, Lichtenstein, more than a hundred years ago, 

 and variously termed impala, pallah, and rooibok, this 

 antelope may claim to be one of the most beautiful and 

 graceful members of the existing African fauna. In 

 South Africa it is sometimes referred to as " the spring- 

 buck of the low veld" ; a name that is well deserved, 

 since in its extraordinary leaping powers -it certainly 

 equals, and possibly surpasses, its high veld cousin. 



Its general colour is a bright chestnut, paling to delicate 

 fawn along the sides, and becoming pure white below ; 

 the limbs are clean and slender, and the hind legs have 

 attached to the lower back parts of the cannon bones 

 very distinctive brushes of dark brown hairs, surrounding 

 a gland containing an oily secretion. On either side of 

 the tail extends a narrow elliptical dark line, similar, 

 except in colour, to that present in the common water- 

 buck. People who believe in the theory of protective 

 coloration maintain that this, in common with the 

 white patches under the tail, found in so many wild 

 animals, must exist in order that individuals of the 

 same species may recognize each other, and that, 



