PORTAX PICTUS. 273 



Ganges, and also in the extreme south of India. It is most abundant 

 in Central India, and in the country between the Jumna and Sutlej, 

 but is rare in the Punjab, according to Adams. It does not occur in 

 Ceylon, nor in Assam, or the countries to the east of the Bay of Bengal. 



It frequents thin forests and low jungles, and is often found in 

 tolerably open plains with only a few [scattered bushes. It does not 

 affect a hilly country, but does not avoid low hills clad with thin forest. 

 It is indifferent to the sun, except during the hottest weather. It 

 associates in small herds, varying from seven or eight to twenty and 

 upwards. It appears to go at a lumbering ungainly pace, yet it 

 requires a good horse and a hard run to overtake one, and the only 

 way to succeed certainly, is to press the animal with the utmost speed 

 at first and blow him. 



The Nil-gai is not much sought after by the Indian sportsman, nor is 

 its flesh highly esteemed, yet at times it is excellent and juicy, and 

 gives a good beef-steak. 



It is often caught young and becomes very tame, many being allowed 

 to wander about at large. They are apt, however, to get vicious at times. 

 It browses a good deal, and is very fond of many kinds of fruit. Mr. 

 Elliot says that those he kept used to drop on their knees to feed, and 

 attacked and defended themselves by butting with the head. A very 

 dark, almost black one, was lately seen by more than one sportsman 

 near TJmballa. Blyth, Ogilby, and other naturalists, consider that the 

 Nil-gai was probably the Hippelaphus of Aristotle, and not the Samber 

 deer, which opinion I quite endorse. 



Gen. TETRACEROS, Leach. 



Char. Horns in the males only, erect, slightly bent forwards at the 

 tip, round, subulate, slightly ringed at the base, situated far back on the 

 frontal bone ; an additional pair of small horns situated between the 

 orbits, short, conical, sometimes replaced by a mere bony knob ; eye-pit 

 moderate, linear ; muffle large ; feet-pits in the hind-feet only ; no in- 

 guinal pits ; canines in the males ; four mammae in the females. 



The form of these animals is not so elegant as that of the true antelope, 

 and their hair is harsher. They frequent jungles and thin forest, and do 

 not associate in herds, but are monogamous, and often found in pairs. 



This genus is strictly Indian, and there is only one well-marked species 

 known. 



T 



