141 

 No- 68. GaEella-Bennettii- 



JERDON, No. 229, PAGE 280 ; INDIAN GAZELLE. 



I have found these animals not far from the foot of the Raman- 

 droog hills in Bellary, and they are probably to be met with in other 

 parts of the Ceded districts ; I doubt however whether they are 

 abundant anywhere south of the Kistna river. I do not think 

 that they are to be found far into the Northern Circars, although 

 they are very common in the Hyderabad country on their border. 

 Although I have never seen the males fight, as described at page 

 281 of Jerdon, I can easily imagine that they do so, for the tilting 

 matches of the bucks of the common antelope are carried out much 

 in the same manner. This beautiful little gazelle often attracts 

 attention or makes its presence known by the peculiar hiss and 

 stamp, of the foot mentioned by Mr. Elliot at the same page. From 

 their color and the rocky, barren ground they frequent generally, 

 they are more difficult to see than the common antelope ; and were it 

 not for this noise, they would often escape observation. In the heat 

 of the day they are often to be turned like hares, out of long grass, 

 or from under small bushes ; and as they then get up very close a 

 charge of shot, or an Ely's cartridge stops them easily. I fancy 

 that they are occasionally killed by jackals ; for, one afternoon 

 near Saugor, while coursing with two friends we watched, for a 

 long time, four jackals evidently trying to force one of a small herd 

 of young bucks to separate from the rest. The gazelles stood in a 

 circle and maintained their ground well, by keeping their heads very 

 gallantly outwards to their foes, until at length seeing us, both 

 sides made off. We laid the greyhounds into and killed one of 

 the jackals. 



It was an interesting sight, for the jackal* displayed a good deal 

 of cunning, two kept themselves in reserve and together, while the 

 others pretended to gambol round the outer edge of the circle evi- 

 dently trying to coax one of the young bucks into charging out of 

 it. The gazelles stamped and snorted and seemed much inclined to 

 fighfc, and probably had we not been seen, one of them, would 

 have done so ; of course only to fall a victim to his rashness, In a 



