152 SAVAGE SUDAN 



with bristly beard and a loose bushy mane on neck, and 

 generally shaggy pelage the reverse of that in the 

 smooth-coated cobs. But more conspicuous than any of 

 these points, as seen from a distance, comes the singular 

 horizontal carriage of head and neck, poked forward 

 so as to bring the long curving sweep of its splendid 

 horns lying close along the line of its back ; in fact, 

 the lower curve of the horn is often lost to view against 

 the sable quarters. I cannot call to mind ever seeing the 

 lechwi hold its head and neck upright, as all cob and 

 waterbuck habitually do. No field-naturalist could con- 

 ceivably mistake a lechwi for a waterbuck as systematists 



HOOFS OF SlTUTUNGA. HOOFS OF COB SlTUTUNGA LECHWI. 



have blindly done for two generations nor confuse it 

 with the cobs either. For those who have eyes to see 

 and to discriminate, the three animals obviously belong 

 to three totally distinct genera. 



As seen afar on the marshy plain, saddle-back rams 

 show up absolutely black ; no suspicion of other colour 

 occurs, save only the snow-white saddle. But when the 

 prize lies at your feet, then the warmer tones of the 

 interior fur, showing up through the dark and shaggy 

 exterior, produce an effect of lustrous sable. Sometimes 

 one discerns a faint semblance a mere shadowy indica- 

 tion of the paler gorget so characteristic of ariel, addra, 

 and Grant's gazelle, white-eared cob, and other antelopes. 

 The females of lechwi are hornless and of a tawny fawn 

 colour, not to me distinguishable from those of the cob, 



