CHAPTER XI 



THE WHITE-EARED COB (ADENOTA LEUCOTIS) 



ARABIC Tee I 



DAWN had already broken when against a fire-blackened 

 bank ahead I descried in clear silhouette a group of 

 antelopes, whose pale tawny pelage contrasted sharply 

 with their dark environment. Though new to me, I 

 recognised the strangers as white-eared cob. Silently 

 our ship sped towards them, her swift approach easily 

 inappreciable from the animals' point of view. Pale foxy- 

 red in hue, their sheeny coats shone refulgent in the 

 horizontal sun-rays, well set-off by the black bank behind. 

 Obviously they had just enjoyed a matutinal drink, and 

 now grazed unsuspicious on scant green blades upspringing 

 from new burnt soil. Then, at 200 yards, my eyes caught 

 what at first had escaped detection. Two coal-black 

 bucks, standing slightly apart and nearer, complacently 

 gazed back at us over their shoulders. That dark back- 

 ground, though it had rendered their female consorts so 

 conspicuous, had effectually concealed these two black 

 males from our view. Thus occurred my first interview 

 with white-eared cob. 



That same afternoon a second encounter precisely 

 reversed the conditions just described. Far out in the 

 midst of an ocean of sere grass, a solitary horned animal 

 stood out conspicuous as a coal-cart. Possibly in the joy 

 and excitement of a first introduction to new creatures, 

 I had no eye for collateral objects ; but the binoculars 

 speedily revealed that what had appeared a solitary 



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