332 HOOFED ANIMALS 



prances up and down like a rocking-horse worked by 

 machinery ; then executes a series of pirouettes, and all 

 the time emits a string of sharp, loud barks which can be 

 heard at a great distance, and, in a menagerie, pierce 

 through the roars of lions and tigers. 



This White-tailed Gnu is strictly a South African animal ; 

 but there is another species, the Blue or Brindled Gnu 

 (Connochcetes taurinus), which is more or less common from 

 the edge of the Kalahari Desert, through the Eastern lake 

 regions to Kilimanjaro. Thanks to the fact that the Wilde- 

 beest is as wary as it is tenacious of life, and also that the 

 flesh is of little value, the native hunters kill fewer of the 

 animal than of any other species of Antelope. Before the 

 war it was calculated there were not more than two thousand 

 Gnus in South Africa ; there are now probably less than 

 half that number. 



NILGAI (Boselaphus tragocamelus) . 

 Plate XXXII. Fig. 2. 



The Nilgai, or Blue Ox of India, standing five feet high 

 at the shoulders, is the largest of the Asiatic Antelopes. The 

 females are usually tawny red in colour, while the males are 

 generally slate blue, the under parts being darker and the 

 legs nearly black. Very old bulls are nearly quite black. 

 White lines, one above and one below the fetlock, are 

 conspicuous marks on the elegantly shaped limbs. The 

 hind legs are rather shorter than the fore limbs, which 

 gives the animal a somewhat ungainly appearance, but its 

 gait, though apparently clumsy, is very rapid. The horns 

 of the male are short, smooth, and straight ; the female is 

 hornless. 



The Blue Ox, in herds of fifteen to twenty, frequents the 

 thickly wooded plains or low hills of Central India. It 

 grazes and browses, and, like the giraffe, seizes leaves and 

 other food with its tongue, instead of its lips. The animal 

 is shy and wary, and to effect its capture considerable wood- 

 craft is necessary. In the open it can be hunted on horse- 

 back and speared. It is difficult to kill the Nilgai, and 



