400 Great and Small Game of Africa 



the year, when the refreshing showers of early spring have once more 

 clothed the arid veldt with a carpet of green and succulent grass, the sable 

 antelopes begin to get their new coats, and by the beginning of the new 

 year are usually once more sleek and glossy. 



In the upland valleys of Mashunaland I have known sable antelopes 

 to get their new coats in October, before the end of the dry season, but this 

 was owing to the fact that in that country a certain kind of grass sprouts 

 from the damp soil of the higher valleys, which soon fattens all animals 

 that feed upon it, whether wild or domestic. 



The sable antelope may be said to be a forest-loving species, though it 

 does not like dense bush. Where the country is covered with open forest, 

 in which grassy valleys intersected with little streams of running water are 

 numerous, as on the northern, eastern, southern and western slopes of the 

 high plateaus of Matabeleland and Mashunaland, sable antelopes may be 

 confidently looked for. 



During the rainy season they retire from the neighbourhood of the 

 high open plateaux into the forest-covered countries at a lower level ; and 

 although during the winter months, from July to November, they extend 

 their range very much in search of young green grass, and may be met 

 with on some of the highest portions of Mashunaland, they always keep to 

 those parts of the plateau where there is a certain amount of open forest to 

 be found, and are never encountered in the midst of wide open treeless 

 downs, like the tsessebe and the roan antelope. Sable antelopes are some- 

 times found in very broken country, and are capable of climbing up and 

 down steep rocky hillsides with the greatest apparent ease ; but I do not 

 think they can be said to be partial to hilly countries, and they certainly 

 prefer the undulating slopes and less lofty ridges on the borders of the 

 higher hills. 



Sable antelope cows begin to drop their calves in August, but the bulk 

 of them calve during September and October. When heavy in calf, sable 



