INDIAN SHOOTING 353 



notice of the shot), I dropped him with another bullet so that 

 he fell over the carcase of his late rival. 



Writing of the height that antelope can jump, Williamson 

 mentions a black buck leading a herd over a net which was 

 propped up on poles 13 ft. long, and which must have been 

 at least 1 1 ft. high. 



XLVIII. THE NYLGHAO (Portax pictus) 

 Native names : ' Nilghao, ' Lilghao ' ; in the Punjab, ' Roz ' 



This animal is found pretty nearly all over the plains of 

 India. Jerdon says it is not known in the extreme south of 

 India, but Sanderson mentions it as occurring in the Madras 

 Presidency on the borders of Mysore. According to my own 

 experience, it is most plentiful in Central India, though it is 

 common enough in the North -West Provinces. 



An old male, usually called a blue bull, is a large beast 

 with a lean head, surmounted by short cow-like horns, but 

 with a curious rib along the base of the horn in front ; the 

 neck is long and carried high ; the withers are high, and give 

 him a horse-like appearance, but he falls away towards the 

 hind-quarters ; the tail is like a cow's, with a tuft at the end, 

 but only reaches to the hocks. His general colour is a dark 

 iron grey ; the chin, lips, and inside of the ears are white ; the 

 ears are rather large and cow-like ; there is a white spot on 

 each cheek, a large white patch on the throat, below which 

 hangs a tuft of long black hair ; the chest and stomach are 

 white, there are white rings on the fetlocks, and he has a thin 

 upright black mane. 



The female is fawn-coloured, and is without horns. 



Scrub jungle, composed of ' babul ' trees, ' dhak ' and 

 ' beyr ' bushes, is the ground on which to look for nylghai, and 

 if there is a patch of sugar cane adjoining such a jungle, it is 

 an almost certain find. The natives often enclose these patches 

 of cane with grass fences nearly six feet high, but nylghai will 

 always jump them. 



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