HEMITRAGUS. 451 
Owing to the ground it inhabits being so covered with jungle, the 
pursuit of the tahr is attended with a great deal of labour and uncer- 
tainty. Forcing one’s way for hours through tangled bushes is very 
fatiguing, and, as it is impossible to do so without noise, chances are 
often lost which would be easy enough if the ground was more open. 
Frequently, although the tracks show that old tahr must be near, and in 
spite of the utmost care and caution, the first intimation one has of the 
presence of the game is a rush through the bushes, a clatter of falling 
stones, and perhaps a glimpse of the shaggy hind-quarters of the last of 
the herd as he vanishes over some precipice where it is perfectly impos- 
sible to follow him. 
“Karly in the spring, when grass and leaves are scarce, and again in 
the rutting season, are the best times for tahr shooting, as the old 
males then come out on open slopes. 
“The tahr is very tenacious of life, and, even when mortally wounded, 
he will frequently make his escape into utterly impracticable ground. 
In autumn the tahr becomes immensely fat and heavy, and his flesh is 
then in high favour with the natives, the rank flavour suiting their not 
_ very delicate palates. An Englishman would rather not be within one 
hundred yards to leeward of him, the perfume being equal to treble- 
distilled ‘bouquet de bouc.’ Ibex is bad enough, but tahr is ‘a 
caution.’ The flesh of the female is, however, excellent.” 
Colonel Markham says: ‘Seen at a distance it looks like a great 
wild hog, but when near it is a noble beast.” According to Hodgson, it 
has interbred with a female spotted deer, and the offspring, which more 
resembled the mother, grew up a fine animal. ‘There is a beautifully 
clear photograph in Kinloch’s ‘Large Game of Thibet,’ and a large 
coloured plate in Wolf’s ‘ Zoological Sketches.’ 
No. 450. CAPRA ve/ HEMITRAGUS HYLOCRIUS. 
The Neilgherry Wild Goat, or Lbex of Madras Sportsmen 
( Jerdon’s No. 233). 
NativE Names.—Warra-adu or Warri-atu, Tamil. 
Hasitrat.—The Western Ghats, southerly towards Cape Comorin. 
DeEscriIpTION.—According to Jerdon, “the adult male, dark sepia 
brown, with a pale reddish-brown saddle, more or less marked, and 
paler brown on the sides and beneath; legs somewhat grizzled with 
white, dark brown in front, and paler posteriorly; the head is dark, 
grizzled with yellowish-brown, and the eye is surrounded by a pale 
fawn-coloured spot; horns short, much curved, nearly in contact at the 
base, gradually diverging, strongly keeled internally, round externally, 
with numerous close rings not so prominent as in the last species. 
There is a large callous spot on the knees surrounded by a fringe of 
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