ABSTRACT
Blackness in animals is what naturalists term a specialised feature; and from this point of view (as is demonstrated by the fact that the young are chestnut or tan coloured) the sable antelope is a highly specialised creature. Discovered in the year 1837 by the great hunter Sir Cornwallis Harris in the hills of the Magaliesberg district of the Transvaal, the sable antelope ranges thence northwards to Nyasaland and the neighbouring parts of south-eastern and eastern Africa. South of the Zambesi the range of the species appears, indeed, to have been confined to the eastern half of the continent, except for a western extension along the valley of the Limpopo and the southern bank of the Chobi. The coat of the sable antelope is in best condition and darkest in colour immediately after the rainy season, when food has been abundant, the mane being then so long as to all partially to one side.
