BOSELAJPHUS. 517 



Distribution. Himalayas, at moderate elevations between 3000 

 and 8000 feet, from Kashmir to Bhutan. Not common in the 

 Sivvalik hills according to Kinloch. According to Captain Butler 

 this species in found in the Naga hills, south of Upper Assam. 



Habits. It is difficult to improve upon Jerdon's account. He 

 says the goral " usually associates in small parties of from four to 

 eight or so, and frequents rugged grassy hills or rocky ground in 

 the midst of forest. If one goral is seen, you may be pretty 

 certain that others are not far off, and they rarely or never 

 forsake their own grounds. If cloudy they feed at all hours, 

 otherwise only morning and evening. When one is alarmed it 

 gives a hissing snort, which is answered by all within hearing." 

 The few I have seen were in pairs, but this may have been due to 

 the time of year September. Old males, according to Kinlochj 

 are generally solitary. 



According to Hodgson the period of gestation is six months, and 

 the young, usually single, is born in May or June. The goral is 

 one of the best known Himalayan animals ; it cares but little for 

 the neighbourhood of man, and is frequently found near hill-stations. 



Genus BOSELAPHUS, Blainville (1816). 

 Syn. Portax, H. Smith (1827). 



Tail long and tufted. Hind limbs shorter than fore, 

 withers very high. Suborbital gland small ; no lachrymal fossa. 

 Interdigital glands present. No inguinal glands. Muffle large, 

 bovine. A mane on the back of the neck in both sexes, and a tuft 

 of hair on the throat of the male. 



Erontals and parietals almost in one plane, forming a right 

 angle with the occipital. Molars very hypsodont, a large accessory 

 column in those of the upper jaw. Females hornless ; horns in 

 males arising a little distance apart, just behind the orbit ; they 

 are short, smooth, pointed, directed upwards and backwards, 

 nearly straight, subconical above, triangular at the base, with the 

 posterior side flat, and a ridge in front, which in old animals runs 

 forwards and inwards at the base till the horns almost touch. 



This is the only surviving genus in Asia of the Tragelaphine 

 antelopes, comprising eland, kudu, &c. There is but a single 

 living species, peculiar to India. A closely allied fossil form, 

 B. namadicus, occurs in Indian Pleistocene and Pliocene beds. 



355. Boselaphus tragocamelus. The Nilgai or blue ball. 



Antilope tragocamelus, Pallas, Spic. Zool. i, p. 9 (1767), xii, p. 13. 

 Antilope picta, Pallas, Spic. Zool. xii, p. 14 (1777) ; Sykes, P. Z. 8. 



1831, p 105. 

 Damalisrisia,if. Smith, Griffiths An. King, iv, p. 363 (1827) ; Elliot, 



Mad. Jour. L. S. x, p. 2:26. 



