PoRTAX. A477 
hind-quarters, lower than in front. The male is of an iron grey colour, 
intensified by age; the inside of the ears, lips, and chin are white; a 
large white patch on the throat, below which is the pendant tuft of 
black hair; the chest, stomach, and rings on the fetlocks, white ; mane, 
throat-tuft and tip of tail, black. The female is a sandy or tawny colour, 
and is somewhat smaller than the male. 
S1zE.—Length of male, 65 to 7 feet; tail 18 to 22 inches; height at 
shoulder, from 13 to 144 hands ; horns, from 8 to ro inches. 
The nilgao inhabits open country with scrub or scanty tree jungle, 
Portax pictus. 
also, in the Central provinces, low hilly tracts with open glades and 
valleys. He feeds on beyr (Zizyphus jujuba) and other trees, and at 
times even devours such quantities of the intensely acrid berries of the 
aonla (Phyllanthus emblica) that his flesh becomes saturated with the 
bitter elements of the fruit. This is most noticeable in soup, less so in 
a steak, which is at times not bad. The tongue and marrow-bones, 
however, are generally as much as the sportsman claims, and, in the 
Central provincés at least, the natives are grateful for all the rest. 
