172 SAVAGE SUDAN 



Another surprise awaited. Not far from Lake No, 

 but amongst the dense forests which clothe the south 

 bank (the proper right), we found a woodland cob in 

 great numbers and excessively tame, allowing us to walk 

 past within 60 or 80 yards on occasion, even less. 

 These were practically all tawny, paler than any hitherto 

 seen, and devoid of the conspicuously white facial 

 markings. They carried, moreover, finer horns some 

 scarcely inferior to those of many a saddleback. Indeed, 

 with their uniform foxy pelts and splendid cornual 

 equipment, these buck rather recalled visions of impala 

 than any white-eared cob I had ever seen. 



Could I have been certain that these antelopes belonged 

 to another species, I would have been entitled to shoot six 

 more and thus set the question at rest. By some 

 inconceivable oversight, we had on board Candace no 

 single book of reference on the subject of antelopes, and I 

 dared not trust to memory alone. As already confessed, 

 I had by pure mischance overshot my limit in saddle-back 

 lechwi, and, with that on my mind, declined all risk of 

 even a technical infraction of the game-ordinance. Thus 

 the problem" remained for solution in another year ; or 

 rather, as the date was only February, we thought to 

 solve it in the succeeding November. How little we 

 then foresaw! ... It remains unsolved still. Possibly 

 these were " Uganda cobs " out of bounds. 



The white-eared cob one associates almost exclusively 

 with wide grass-prairies, devoid of bush or covert. Here 

 these undetermined cobs were equally at home amidst 

 relatively dense forest, associated with waterbuck, bush- 

 buck, and tiang, and close neighbours of buffalo. 



From the above it is at least clear that a dark or black 

 coat in Adenota leucotis is no exclusive index of maturity. 

 The darker individuals are unquestionably adults and 

 probably aged. This is shown by their horn - measure- 

 ments. . But on an average the big tawny-coloured males 



