246 SHIKAR SKETCHES. 



had a gallop after a stag and a hind in Berar. I 

 rode them for about half-a-mile in tolerably open 

 jungle, and had got almost within spearing dis- 

 tance when my horse came down a regular 

 ' buster ' with me in a small nullah hidden by the 

 long grass through which I was galloping. Had 

 it not been for this contretemps, I verily believe I 

 should have succeeded. 



The para,* or hog-deer, comes next on our list 

 but as they are not an interesting animal I shall 

 devote but few lines to their description. They 

 are of a dark reddish-brown colour, the hide 

 plentifully besprinkled with white hair. The tex- 

 ture of the hair is somewhat like a roe-deer's y 

 only, if anything, rather coarser. The hog-deer 

 is heavily made, and has derived its name from 

 its curious pig-like action in galloping with its 

 head carried low as it rushes headlong through 

 the long grass in which it loves to dwell. The 

 horns have, like the cheetal, only three tines, but 

 are much smaller, and lack the graceful sweep of 

 a spotted deer's. To a tyro their mad rush through 

 the grass as they get up is to a certain extent 

 alarming, as it gives one the idea of being made 

 by a much larger animal. 



They are not, I believe, gregarious, and I have 



* Axis Porcinus. 



