“In general appearance and sporting qualities the Sable Antelope (_Hippotragus niger_) yields the palm to none of its kind. There is about the whole animal that indescribable charm that is so intensely African and associated with the wild life. Its strong individuality must ever stand out in the minds of those who have been so fortunate as to see and shoot it, and it is certainly one of the chief objects of interest in the splendid fauna of that country. Apart from its satin-like hide, sweeping horns, erect mane, and great strength, the Sable Antelope presents an appearance of fearlessness and nobility that is very striking, to say the least of it. Though the Koodoo surpasses his rival in elegance and general appearance when dead, he is but a skulker, and makes but a poor show beside the Sable on the Veldt. I would say, if such a comparison be allowable, the two hold their own like the rival beauties of a London drawing-room. The fair beauty sits quietly in a corner, charming her immediate circle with her graceful shyness and beauty, and people take sly glances at her from the other end of the room, while pretending to devote their attention to someone else. What a contrast with her black-eyed rival, who flaunts into the room as if she owned the entire show, and commands the attention of all eyes by her flashy and striking beauty! The one attracts attention slowly, the other commands it at once. Roughly speaking, the height of this grand Antelope at the shoulder is about 4½ feet, but he looks much taller, owing to his great shoulders and unusually thick neck, ornamented with its erect crest of hair. The tail is long, and has a good wisp of hair at the end, which, like the tails of the Roan Antelope and the Waterbuck, swings from side to side as the animal gallops away. Like the Koodoo, the horns of the Sable are its chief glory, and the noble manner in which the head is carried by the buck when on the move is a splendid thing to see. Unlike all Deer, and nearly all Antelope, the Sable when running arches the neck instead or raising the chin; this gives the animal its nice picture-booky look, and I could hardly imagine a finer subject for an animal painter than a herd of these grand beasts on the move, if their heads and necks be properly drawn.” Mr. F. V. Kirby, F.Z.S., in his ‘Haunts of Wild Game,’ also devotes a whole chapter to an account of his rencontres with this Antelope, which he found “by no means rare” in his favourite hunting-grounds in the Lydenburg district of the Transvaal, and gives several excellent illustrations of its noble form. Lastly, Mr. J. Ffolliott Darling, F.Z.S., has kindly favoured us with the following field-notes on this Antelope as lately observed by him in Mashonaland and Matabeleland:—