THE ROAN ANTELOPE 97 



wildness and the open nature of their haunts," he never 

 shot but one roan antelope, and even that one was not 

 recovered till the following day, when already half-eaten 

 by a lion. More inexplicable still on meeting with von 

 Heuglin later at Khartoum, the latter, who had spent 

 several years in the Sudan, stated that he had never seen a 

 roan antelope, and regarded Baker's specimen as belong- 

 ing to a new species (op. cit.> p. 543). This is a sidelight 

 which, to my mind, casts an atmosphere of grave doubt 

 over von Heuglin's competence as a naturalist at least 

 as regards the larger animals. 



The discrepancy in our respective observations as to 

 the haunts of roan, and equally the fact that Baker should 

 have failed where so humble a hunter as the author 

 succeeded with no supreme difficulty, are things that 

 pass understanding. It is unnecessary to disclaim even 

 a scintilla of " Satan's favourite sin, the pride that 

 apes humility." The above remarks are simply a 

 recapitulation of two sets of irreconcilable experiences ; 

 and mine, at the present day, I venture to assert, are 

 correct. 



In its colour the Sudani roan varies individually in 

 marked degree. The few that I shot included animals 

 of a rich rufous hue with brindled effects ; one is, I 

 believe, correctly described as "cinnamon," others paler, 

 and one of a strawberry roan. But I had opportunity of 

 examining others through glasses, at fairly close range, 

 that appeared slaty-grey, varying in depth from darker 

 to quite pale tones. Probably I examined, in the Sudan 

 alone, roan of all the different colours upon which have 

 been based subspecific or geographical distinctions, such 

 as " Rufopallidus" and other fanciful names. 



In the extraordinary length of its bushy ears, the 

 roan far surpasses all its congeners. Following are 

 relative ear-measurements of typical examples in my 

 own collection : 



