The Sable Antelope 399 



tributed through those regions. Nowhere have I seen these beautiful 

 animals in such numbers as in Northern Mashunaland, in which district it is 

 by far the commonest species of antelope. 



Sable antelopes are usually met with in herds of from ten to twenty 

 individuals, and although I have probably seen many thousands of these 

 animals in the aggregate, I never saw a herd which I judged to exceed 

 fifty in number until 1895. In that year I met with a herd of sable 

 antelopes near the Sewhoi-whoi River, about 100 miles to the north-east 

 of Bulawayo, that I was able to count pretty accurately, and which I found 

 numbered about eighty all told. No matter how large a herd of sable 

 antelopes may be, except in very rare instances, only one full-grown bull 

 will be found with it. At least this is my experience, which is con- 

 siderable, though I have often seen the old cows in a herd, which in 

 Mashunaland are often almost as black as the bulls, mistaken for the latter 

 as they ran amongst the trees. It is worth noting that whilst to the south 

 of the Zambesi the old cows often turn almost as black in colour as the adult 

 bulls, in the herds I saw to the north of that river all the cows appeared to be 

 dark reddish-brown, and none of them looked black. The sable antelope is 

 in highest condition towards the end of the rainy season. The coat is then 

 thick and glossy, and in the old bulls absolutely jet black, except for the 

 face markings, which are pure white, as are also the belly and the 

 insides of the thighs. At this time, too, the hair on the neck is longer and 

 thicker than on any other part of the body, and the thick and luxuriant 

 crest of hair which grows all along the back of the neck, falls over 

 and hangs drooping on either side above the withers. Before the dry 

 season is very far advanced, however, say towards the middle of June, the 

 long hairs of the neck begin to fall out, and by September nothing is left 

 on this part of the body but a thin covering of short brown hair, with 

 many bare patches of naked skin amongst it. The hair over the entire 

 body also becomes thinner, and loses its glossiness. Towards the end of 



