THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
instance, but, after having been fired at, would only run a very short 
distance before halting again. And this they would do several times before 
finally galloping off. Possibly it was the horse which attracted their 
attention and aroused their curiosity. On the open downs of Mashonaland 
I always found roan antelopes very wild and shy, and, except in the case 
of cows heavy with calf, possessed of great speed and endurance. Though 
far more widely spread than the sable, I never found roan antelopes so 
numerous in any part of their range as were the former antelopes in certain 
favoured districts, nor have I found them congregating in such large 
herds. They usually live in troops of from five or six to a dozen or fifteen 
individuals, though I once met with a herd of thirty. More than twenty 
are, however, seldom seen together — at least, south of the equator — 
though I have heard that at certain seasons of the year they congregate in 
larger numbers on the White Nile and the Bahr-el-Zaraf. I have some- 
times, though very rarely, seen two full-grown bulls with a herd of roan 
antelopes. As a general rule, there is certainly only one, and it is perhaps 
because the master bull of a herd of these animals will tolerate no rival 
that so many single roan bulls are met with. As with male sable antelopes, 
a single roan bull soon comes to bay when chased and barked at by dogs, 
and then fights fiercely, though in my own experience I have never known 
one of these animals to kill one of my own dogs. They never seemed to me 
to be so quick with their horns as are sable antelopes, nor can they reach 
so far with them as the last-named animals are able to do. On the other 
hand, roan antelopes are more apt to act on the aggressive when brought 
to bay than any other African antelope. At least, that is my experience; 
and when wounded and standing snorting defiance, they should not be 
incautiously approached. When nearly spent, but still striking savagely 
at the spears which are being thrown at it from all sides, a roan antelope 
often gives vent to a loud squealing cry quite different to any sound I have 
ever heard emitted by any other antelope. 
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