70 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTKAL INDIA. 



disapjDearance. Unless they have been seen to go clean 

 away, they should always be followed up on the chance 

 of beiusf found asfain. 



The last of the antelopes met with in the open 

 country is the Nilgae,* the male of which, called a 

 "blue bull," will stand about 131 hands high at the 

 shoulder. The female is a good deal smaller, and of a 

 fawn colour. Their habitat is on the lower hills that 

 border and intersect the plains, and also on the plains 

 themselves wherever grass and bushes afford sufficient 

 cover. The old sites of deserted villages and cultiva- 

 tion, unfortunately so common, which are usually 

 covered with long grass and a low bushy growth of 

 Palas and Jujube trees,t are seldom without a herd of 

 nilgae. They are never found very far from cultivation, 

 which they visit regularly every night. AVhen little 

 fired at, the blue bull is very easily approached and 

 shot. It is very poor eating, and affords no trophy 

 worth taking away, so that it is not much sought after 

 by the sportsman. The beginner, however, who is 

 steadying his nerves, or the inventor who wants a sub- 

 stantial target for a new projectile, will find them very 

 accessible and convenient. The blue bull is an awkward ^ 

 lumbering, stupid brute ; and it is highly ludicrous to 

 observe the air of self-satisfaction with which a block- 

 head of a bull, who has allowed you to walk up within 

 fifty yards of him, will blunder off to the other side of a 

 nala, then turn round and stand still within easy range 

 of your rifle, and look as if he thought himself a very 

 clever fellow indeed for so thoroughly outwitting you. 

 He is a favourite quarry with the unenterprising 

 Mahomedan gentleman. The antelope his style of dress 



* Fortax pidus. f Butea frondo^a, Zi::ij2>hus Jujuha. 



