THE ROAN ANTELOPE 113 



for a beast such as this, which is a notorious lover 

 of fiat, or at most undulating, country. 



The roan antelope is, so to speak, the plain 

 child of the family of which his handsome kinsman 

 the sable is the attractive member. I regret that I 

 am unable to publish a photograph of this animal, 

 the more so as illustrations of him are few and 

 far between. In Johnston's book, British Central 

 Africa, there is a drawing of the roan which looks 

 as though it might have been intended for a 

 fanciful caricature ; but apart from this par- 

 ticular " picture," the only good illustration I 

 have seen is that which appears in Stigand and 

 Lyell's admirable work. Central African Game and 

 its Spoor. This latter certainly affords an ex- 

 cellent idea of the roan antelope, and one from 

 which it is possible to draw interesting com- 

 parisons. 



The roan is larger and heavier than the sable, 

 and stands about 14 or 14^ hands at the shoulder. 

 The general structure closely resembles that of 

 the smaller beast, but is somewhat clumsier, and 

 instead of the vivid black and white or brown and 

 white of his good-looking relative, there is a dis- 

 tinct tendency to greyness and consequent dingi- 

 ness in his general appearance. His most striking 

 feature is the disproportionately large ears ; so 

 much are they so as almost to mask the small, 

 disappointing, backward-cm'ved horns, which look 

 like a cheap, futile imitation of those of some 

 immature sable. There is always, to my mind, 

 about the roan an air of shifty apology, a plainly 

 evinced desire for as complete self-effacement as 



