Game Animals of India, etc. 



reported from Sind, and there are skulls in the British 

 Museum from Kathiawar. In the wooded districts 

 of Rajputana it occurs abundantly, and it is equally 

 common in the Bombay Presidency, as well as in the 

 Central Provinces and the northern districts of Madras. 

 Towards the east, in Chattisgarh, Chutia Nagpur, and 

 Orissa, it becomes more rare, as it does in Mysore, 

 where it is only occasionally met with ; but it has been 

 observed on the Nilgiri and the Palni Hills of South- 

 Western Madras. Along the foot of the Himalaya 

 it occurs, in suitable districts, from the Punjab in the 

 north-west to Nepal in the south-east. 



The favourite haunts of this little antelope are 

 districts where the ground is hilly and wooded, but 

 not encumbered with thick jungle : a country, in fact, 

 similar to that met with between Rawal Pindi and 

 Muree, after the plains are left. Unlike blackbuck, 

 it is not fond of com^pany, and it is seldom that more 

 than two or three are seen together, while it is 

 frequently solitary. In these unsocial habits it agrees 

 with the African duiker-boks, as it does in its partiality 

 for covert. In constantly keeping in the neighbour- 

 hood of water, and in drinking regularly once a day, 

 it differs, however, from the typical duiker-bok, which, 

 is frequently met with far from water ; but in this 

 respect the Natal duiker-bok comes nearer to the 

 chousingha, since that species drinks once daily in 

 cold and twice in hot weather. The pairing-season 

 of the chousingha takes place during the summer rains, 

 the young making their appearance during the following 

 January or February, so that the period of gestation 

 is about six months. From their shyness these 

 antelopes are difficult to approach ; when put up, they 

 start with a peculiar jerky run, which can never be 

 mistaken ; this jerkiness also characterising their walk. 

 The fawns are either one or two in number ; and if 

 taken sufficiently early are easily tamed and make 

 pleasing pets. 



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