THE WHITE-EARED COB 171 



our special sable friend and his next darkest rival aided 

 our object. 



It is worth special note that three fine tawny males, 

 with their consorts, were lying down together^ slightly 

 apart, all the time, and took no interest in the sparring 

 of their darker cousins. Apparently they belonged to a 

 separate caste. 



At length the awaited chance arrived and the ball 

 went true. The champion, though apparently black, 

 proved to be considerably brindled with foxy-chestnut 

 an exquisitely beautiful creature, but not the genuinely 

 black ideal of one's dreams. His horns (C] were of 

 similar measurements to those of the former "brindled" 

 example (} shot near Kaka ; that 

 is, intermediate between the smaller 

 black heads and the bigger tawny. 



I had now reached my "limit" 

 of white-eared cob, and a few days 

 later, while shooting sandgrouse on 

 the northern shore of Lake No 

 (620 miles), encountered the first 



absolutely black example I had seen. With a single 

 doe, he lay sleeping among green flags and sprang under- 

 foot. Never in my life have I seen a wild animal 

 (carrying a handsome trophy) so totally careless of human 

 intrusion. At 30 yards he pulled up and stood on gaze, 

 his mate just beyond. Truly it seemed that he had 

 studied the game-ordinances of Sudan and knew, more- 

 over, that I had shot my allowance. At any rate there 

 they both stood while I attempted the rude sketch 

 here reproduced, and once the buck even stooped to 

 scratch an ear with his hind-hoof. 



This antelope, I could swear it, was purely and 

 absolutely black and white with never a tawny hair on 

 him from stem to stern. At that close range mistake 

 was impossible. His horns were of merely medium 

 size. 



