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glee, utterly regardless of their unfortunate comrade left struggling 

 on the ground ; they reminded me much of a drove of young High- 

 land cattle as they rushed past within a few feet of me, stirring up 

 much dust and, with their tails up, butting and kicking at each 

 other. 



Had breech loaders been in fashion at the time, I might easily 

 have secured another, if not two, of the herd. 



This herd of nil-gai, with the exception of the bull I at first 

 stalked, must have been taking shelter from the broiling heat of 

 the midday sun among some acacia (or mimosa* if that be a more 

 correct term) bushes near them. 



I can hardly endorse Jerdon's remark, at page 273, that except 

 during the hottest weather, the nil-gai is indifferent to the sun. 

 I think that they are not to be found unless where there are bushes 

 or thin forest sufficient to give them shelter during the day, and 

 that they avoid actual exposure to the sun as much as almost any 

 other animal ; except perhaps the British soldier, the British 

 sportsman, and the vulture, all of which appear at times to think 

 that they can brave it with impunity. I certainly have often found 

 nil-gai, the large bulls especially, taking shelter under trees during 

 the heat of the day. 



They then reminded me much of the picture of the " brindled 

 gnoo, or kokoon, Catoblepas gorgon" in that magnificent work the 

 " Portraits of the game and wild animals of Southern Africa," by 

 Sir W. Cornwallis Harris, of the Bombay Engineers. 



The flesh is generally almost uneatable although the marrow is 

 excellent, but I must own that I have tasted most undeniably good 

 beefsteaks cut from a blue bull. 



I believe that the Coimbatore and Salem collectorates are almost 

 the only places in Southern India, in which nil-gai are to be found. 

 It is difficult to account for the animals being thus so widely 

 divided from their usual haunts unless as has been generally sup- 

 posed, these Southern specimens are the progeny of a semi-domesti- 

 cated herd, which, at some by-gone period, had escaped from the 

 preserve of a native potentate. 



* The "babool" of Indian sportsman. VAGRANT, 



