364 TEE ZOOLOGIST. 



Antelope is thickly clothed in winter on neck, shoulders, and the 

 body as far as the hind quarters with a dense covering of coarse 

 dun-coloured hair, which falls out in summer, leaving the animal 

 smooth-coated. Specimens in zoological gardens have this change 

 of coat well marked in the month of May. As far as I have been 

 able to observe, the hair falls out in irregular patches, com- 

 mencing on each side of the spine, and spreading downwards 

 from several centres, the greyish hue of the subjacent coat 

 gradually appearing through the thinning pelisse. The heavy 

 tuft of dark-brown hair covering the forehead is unaltered at all 

 seasons, and traces of coarse hair likewise persist on the throat, 

 chest, and sides. One of these Antelopes, in August, 1900, was 

 of a general greyish white colour ; frontal tuft brown, and vertex 

 of head behind horns lighter brown ; the throat-mane was also 

 brown, and very scanty. Thus the coat of the animal in summer 

 differs very markedly from its winter covering. 



Hippotragus equinus (Roan Antelope). — Occasionally one has 

 the opportunity of observing, as regards menagerie specimens, 

 various occurrences which are frequently recorded of the animal 

 in a wild state. Thus sportsmen have frequently pointed out 

 that even large Antelopes like the Roan may, in spite of their 

 size, be quite unrecognisable when standing in dense bush ; and 

 it has been most interesting to observe some confirmation of 

 this as regards the Senegambian Roan Antelope, the most con- 

 spicuously marked of all the protean variations of H. equinus. 

 One would reasonably suppose that an Antelope as large as a 

 Horse, with black and white face, black legs, and chestnut body, 

 would be seen easily enough under almost any conditions ; yet 

 a fine cow of this species at Antwerp, when standing in her pad- 

 dock under some overhanging trees, was admirably concealed by 

 her very coloration. The black of the face and legs harmonised 

 completely with the shadows cast by the branches overhead, 

 whilst the bright sunlight streaming through the interstices of 

 the foliage merely revealed the chestnut-coloured body as a 

 large surface of uniform colouring. Had this Antelope been 

 standing amidst natural surroundings she would surely have 

 escaped observation altogether. 



Connochaetes taurinus (Brindled Gnu). — It may not be gener- 

 ally known that these extraordinary looking Antelopes — half 



