XXI 
AFRICAN ANTELOPES 
187 
approach. The megaceros is easier to stalk than 
any other antelope that I have met; and upon one 
occasion I stopped our vessel and landed, where I 
saw a number of these animals upon the half-dried 
marshes. In the course of the afternoon I bagged 
five, affording a grand supply for my hungry people. 
The females of this species are a brown colour, and 
devoid of horns. I have never seen this antelope 
inland, but always in the close vicinity of rivers and 
lakes; they are generally in large herds, and can 
only be discovered at the driest season, when the 
rivers have sunk low, and the marshes, which are 
inundated during the rainy months, have become 
exposed and hardened by the sun. It is difficult to 
estimate the number of animals in a herd, but I 
have occasionally seen this species in dense masses 
that would contain a thousand. The pallah {A. 
leucotis ) is another antelope that is found in 
important herds. This is very common in Central 
Africa, and affords excellent sport, and good food 
for the camp. It is a well-known antelope both in 
South and Central Africa, but I have never met 
with it north of io° N. latitude. The horns of the 
male are prettily shaped, something like the gazelle, 
but spreading. The females have no horns, but 
they are nearly the same colour as the male, a 
yellow body with snow-white belly. The size of 
the pallah is about the same as a fallow-deer. 
The prettiest creature of the jungles is the 
harnessed antelope (A. scripta). This is never 
found in herds, but generally in pairs, or three or 
