ANTELOPES. 



13'J 



rivers (especially the Indus) roll along, at the highest 

 points to which their course have been explored, 

 we may conclude that somewhere in those unknown 

 central parts of Asia, there must fall much rain, and 

 vegetation must be proportionally luxuriant. The 

 antelopes are, in a geographical point of view, per- 

 haps the most important of all animals; and if as 

 much attention were paid to the habits of the mi- 

 grant species, as has been paid to specific characters 

 which have no application, and consequently no 

 meaning, they might probably have, ere now, in so 

 far been made keys to the unexplored parts both of 

 Asia and of Africa. 



The CHICKAKA (A. quadricornin). This species, as 

 its trivial names implies, has four horns. It is an 

 Asiatic, and an inhabitant of India; but its appear- 

 ance, habits, and haunts, are very different from any 

 of those which have been hitherto described. These 

 have all been tenants of the plain, the rock, or the 

 mountains, but the chickara is an inhabitant of the 

 forests. Forest ruminantia, as well as those which 

 reside chiefly among ravines and small broken rocks, 

 where there is no breadth of pasturage, live solitary, 

 or at most in pairs, and the males are monogamous. 

 In such situations they cannot, of course, keep watch ; 

 and as their enemies are more numerous and can 

 attack with more certainty than in the plains, a nu- 

 merous herd browsing near each other in the jungle, 

 would be but the means of betraying each other to 

 the tigers. Accordingly, this species, which is com- 

 paratively small and fcelilc, as well as the next to be 

 mentioned, which is one of the largest, boldest, and 

 most powerful of the tribe, always live apart from 

 each other. 



Four-horned Antelope. 



The chickara is common in most of the wooded 

 parts of India ; its whole length is about three 

 feet two, of which the tail occupies five inches, and 

 the head seven inches and a half. The height is about 

 one foot nine ; the first pair of horns, which rise be- 

 tween the orbits of the eyes, are about three quarters 

 of an inch long ; the second pair, which rise imme- 

 diately above the first, arc three inches long, and 

 straight, but inclining outwards and a little forward, 

 and all the four are black and smooth, without any 

 channeling or annular markings. The females have 

 no horns. The colours are, bright bay on the upper 

 part, silvery white on the under, and the lips black. 

 The young males are like the females, of which the 

 colour on the upper part is considerably paler. They 

 are wild and restless animals, and impatient of con- 

 finement unless taken very young. The male in the 

 pairing season is very pugnacious. 



The NYL-GHAU (A. piclti}. The name picta (painted) 

 is not very descriptive of this species, as the only 



peculiar appearance of painting about it are some white 

 spots on the pastern joints. This species is, like the 

 former, an inhabitant of the Indian forests ; but it 

 frequents richer places, more closely adjoining the 

 cultivated grounds, and not unfrequently, in the cool 

 of the mornings and evenings, approaches the planta- 

 | tions, and levies contributions on the crops of the 

 cultivators. It is a large animal, standing more than 

 four feet at the shoulders, though less elevated at the 

 croup. The shoulders appear to be elevated by a 

 hump, owing to the produced processes of the verte- 

 brae at that part of the spine. The body is strongly 

 made rather than handsome, and the limbs have a 

 slight resemblance to those of a poney. The hoofs 

 are much longer and flatter on the under parts than 

 in most of the species, indicating that the animal is 

 fitted for walking upon softer ground. The neck is 

 compressed laterally, and furnished with a rudimental 

 mane, which extends as far as the hump on the 

 shoulders ; and on the lower part of the neck there 

 is a pendent tuft of long and shaggy hair. The tail 

 | is moderately long, rather flattened, and covered with 

 short hair except at the point, where there is a brush. 

 The face is long and straight in the outline ; the 

 muzzle large and naked ; the lachrymal sinuses much 

 developed, the ears long, broad, and rounded. The 

 horns are scarcely longer than the ears ; they are 

 I smooth, angular at the bases, tapering, sharp at the 

 ! tips, and very formidable for their size. Excepting 

 the inane and the tufts on the throat and tail, the 

 hair all over the body is short, smooth, and close. 

 The under parts of both sexes are white ; the upper 

 parts of the males are usually of a dull grayish-blue, 

 and those of the females tawny ; but the colours are 

 subject to considerable variations. The bluish colour 

 is that of the mature male, the young male being of the 

 tint of the female. The nyl-ghau will breed in con- 

 finement, and the females are gentle animals, but the 

 males re vicious, and, in the season, it is dangerous 

 to approach them. Their mode of attack is both 

 singular and formidable ; they crouch on their fore- 

 knees, bring their hind and fore feet together, and 

 then dart forward with great velocity, delivering- their 

 whole impetus, upon the horns. The force would 

 be sufficient to transfix even the tiger; and it is pro- 

 bable that no beast of prey will attack the nyl-ghau 

 openly. But tigers, and even leopards, often leap 

 upon them from their covert, and then easily despatch 

 them ; so that in the neighbourhood of the jungles 

 nyl-ghaus form a staple article of the tigers' food. 

 The female goes eight months with young, and 

 generally produces two. 



The AHU (A subgutturoso\ This species is de- 

 scribed as inhabiting the middle latitudes of western 

 Asia, from the mountainous or semi-desert parts of 

 Asia Minor, by the north of Persia, and through 

 Bukharia, toward Daouria, and on the north border- 

 ing with the saiga. In its character and habits it 

 has a very considerable resemblance to the gazelle 

 which inhabits north of the African desert; and as 

 the Isthmus of Suez is the point at which the wild 

 parts of Africa and Asia run into each other both 

 geographically and physically, on that account it is 

 natural to expect that many of their productions, even 

 their characteristic ones, should be specifically the 

 same, though, of course, wilh climatal differences or 

 varieties increasing as the physical circumstances of 

 the countries differ more and more from each other. 



For these reasons, but chiefly because, excepting 

 in the locality they are found, they present no very re- 



