Game Animals of India, etc. 



by naked spaces. The tufts of long hairs at the knees, 

 present in so many gazelles, are likewise wanting in the 

 goa. In winter the hair becomes long and soft, but 

 the summer coat is much shorter. The black horns of 

 the bucks have the transverse ridges less strongly 

 marked but more crowded together than in other 

 Asiatic gazelles, their number reaching to between 

 twenty-five and thirty in old individuals. Fourteen 

 and a half inches is the longest length recorded for 

 goa-horns : this measurement being that of a pair 

 from Hanle, in Spiti, belonging to the Hon. Walter 

 Rothschild. There are numerous examples ranging 

 between 13 and 13^^ inches in length. 



A full-grown goa stands from 24 to 25 inches at the 

 shoulder. In winter the colour of the hair on the head 

 and back is light sandy fawn, with a grizzly tinge due 

 to the pale tips of the hairs ; but the summer coat is 

 more distinctly grey. The under-parts are white, with 

 the line of division from the fawn of the back not very 

 strongly marked ; on the buttocks the white area forms 

 a large patch, including the tail, and round this disk 

 the fawn of the back assumes a more rufous tint than 

 elsewhere. The tip of the tail is dark rufous brown or 

 black ; and it was from this feature that Brian Hodgson 

 gave to the goa the name ficticaudata. 



The goa, sometimes miscalled the Tibetan ravine- 

 deer, has much the same geographical distribution as 

 the chiru, being restricted to the Tibetan plateau, 

 where it is met with at elevations between 13,000 and 

 18,000 feet. It likewise frequents the same kind of 

 ground as the latter, avoiding rocky and steep localities, 

 and selecting undulating plains and gently sloping 

 valleys. In early summer goa are found in small herds, 

 which apparently include animals of both sexes and of 

 all ages ; but by September, or somewhat earlier, the 

 old bucks separate themselves from the herds, and go 

 about in small parties of from two to four or five head. 

 Although difficult to approach, goa are unlike many 



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