THE NAEBADA VALLEY. 67 



Such are the principal animals which form the objects of 

 the sportsman's pursuit in the open country. As, however, in a 

 state of nature, there never are herbivorous creatures without 

 their attendant carnivora to form a check and counterbalance 

 to them, so we find various natural enemies attendant on the 

 herds of antelope and nilgae, whose acquaintance the sports- 

 man will occasionally make. The nilgae is a favourite prey 

 of the tiger and the panther. But it is in the low hills where 

 he retires during the day, rather than in the plains where he 

 feeds at night, that he meets these relentless foes ; and the 

 chief carnivorous creatures of the open country are the hunting 

 leopard,* the wolf,| and the jackal.| 



I have several times come across and shot the hunting leo- 

 pard when after antelope ; but they cannot be called common 

 in this part of India. They live mostly in the low isolated 

 rocky eminences called Torias, that rise here and there like 

 islets in the middle of the plains, and on the central plateau, 

 and which are frequently surrounded by grassy plains where 

 they hunt their prey. They are of a retiring and inoffensive 

 disposition, never coming near dwellings, or attacking domes- 

 ticated animals, like the leopard and panther ; and I never 

 heard of their showing any sport when pursued. Their 

 manner of catching the antelope, by a union of cat-like stealth 

 of approach and unparalleled velocity of attack, has often 

 been described. A few are kept tame by the wealthier 

 natives, but more I think for show than real use in hunting. 



The common jackal, always ready for food of any descrip- 

 tion, seldom fails to make a meal of any wounded animal, and 

 I have seen a small gang of them pursue a wounded antelope 

 I had just fired at. The fawns of the antelope and gazelle 

 frequently become their victims. . 



* F. juhata. t & pallipes. J C. aureus. 



F 2 



