The Blackbuck, or Indian Antelope 



crops, afford the chief food -supply of the Indian 

 antelope, grazing taking place at all hours of the day, 

 although the herd frequently enjoys a period of repose 

 during the hottest time. Whether blackbuck ever 

 drink is a matter on which there is a difference of opinion, 

 but that they can exist without taking liquid seems de- 

 monstrated by the occurrence of a herd on a narrow 

 spit of land between the Chilka Salt-Lake in Orissa and 

 the sea, where for thirty miles the only fresh water 

 obtainable is derived from wells. Exception has been 

 taken to this statement, and the suggestion made that 

 there may be irrigation canals or troughs of water used 

 for cattle. The spot is, however, I believe, perfectly 

 barren. That there is nothing improbable in the 

 statement is evident from the fact that several kinds of 

 antelopes in the Kalahari Desert of South Africa never 

 drink for at least many months in succession. 



When a herd of blackbuck is frightened and starts 

 off to escape from intruders, its members invariably 

 take a number of leaps high in the air, after the manner 

 of springbuck. After continuing these gambols for a 

 few hundred yards, the entire herd settles into a 

 gallop, the speed of which, except under special con- 

 ditions, easily ensures escape even from the swiftest 

 greyhounds. Occasionally, indeed, blackbuck have 

 been pulled down by greyhounds on ordinary ground ; 

 and on heavy sand, as in parts of Orissa and the Punjab, 

 as well as on the soft rich pastures of Point Calimere, 

 to the south of Trichinopoli, they can be taken by dogs 

 with no great difficulty, as they also can in other 

 districts when the ground is soft and holding after 

 heavy rains. Blackbuck have, too, occasionally been 

 speared by riding down, but it requires a horse with 

 speed and power of endurance to effect this ; an 

 ordinary horse frequently having considerable difficulty 

 in overtaking a wounded buck. The flesh of this 

 antelope is of good quality, although inferior to that of 

 the chinkara. 



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