256 



UNGULATES. 



climb with ease over ground where one would hardly imagine that any animal 

 could find a footing." 



The old male tahr generally herd separately from the females during the 

 summer, but about October the two sexes come together ; and it is believed that 

 the kids are born in June and July, only a single one being produced at a birth. 



The Nilgiri wild goat {H. hylocrius) — the warri-atu of the 

 Tamils, and the Nilgiri ibex of English sportsmen — is a southern 

 species inhabiting the Nilgiri and Anamalai Hills, and the so-called Western Ghats 

 as far south as Cape Comorin. It is generally found at elevations of from four 

 thousand to six thousand feet above the sea, but occasionally somewhat lower 

 down. This species may be distinguished at a glance from the tahr by the form 

 of the horns, and the absence of the shaggy mane which forms such a conspicuous 

 feature on the fore-quarters of the males of the latter. Instead of being flattened 

 externally, the horns of this goat have their outer side highly convex, and thus 

 have a distinct anterior surface, internally to which there is a slight ridge ; more- 

 over, for some distance the two horns run parallel to one another, after which they 

 diverge gradually. The hair is short, thick, and coarse ; the males having a short, 

 stiff mane on the back of the neck and withers. The general colour is dark 

 yellowish brown above, with a darker stripe down the back ; while the under- 

 pays are paler. The females and young show a more or less decided grey tinge. 

 In height old males of the Nilgiri goat stand from 3| feet to Sh feet at the 

 shoulder; the horns measuring from 12 to 16 inches in length along the curve, 

 although in one instance a length of 17 inches has been recorded. 



Writing of the habits of this species, Mr. Blanford observes that " the Nilgiri 

 goat is found usually in herds of from five or six to fifty or sixty amongst the 

 crags and rocky precipices that border the Nilgiris and other high ranges in the 

 extreme south of India. It keeps above the forest, and but rarely enters woods. 

 I have more than once seen these animals feeding on the grassy hills at the top of 

 the Kundahs west of the Nilgiris, but their usual haunts are the grassy slopes and 

 precipitous crags on the edges of the plateau ; they feed on the former in the 

 mornings and evenings, and rest on ledges amongst the cliffs during the day. 

 They are quite as wary and sharp-sighted as tahr or markhor, and just as nimble 

 and alert on precipitous ground. An old doe, as with other goats, usually acts as 

 sentinel to the herd, and they always appear to suspect danger from below and 

 not from above." The young appear to be born almost at any season of the year ; 

 and it is stated that there are generally two at a birth. 



How this species originally reached its present habitat, so remote from that of 

 its allies, is not very easy to understand ; but the occurrence of a fossil goat appar- 

 ently allied to this group in Perim Island, in the Gulf of Cambay, may eventually 

 aid in solving the problem. 



In regard to the present distribution of this goat, a recent writer observes that 

 it is still fairly abundant on the Anamalai and Travancore Hills ; but has sadly 

 decreased elsewhere owing to the war of extermination waged against it by the 

 native pot-hunter and European shooter, who have alike been indefatigable in 

 slaying the does and young all seasons of the year. The ibex, as it has been 

 locally misnamed, has become so scarce on the Nilgiris that its destruction has 



