451 REMARKS ON AMIMALS 



' NEILGHYE I find this animal described in an old book 

 on Natural History, as " Antilope picta," This appears 

 to be a misnomer. 



The bull, properly Neilghau " Blue bull " is of a grey 

 slaty blue, and has short black horns, not unlike those of 

 the short-horn breeds of oxen, only smaller. The cow is 

 smaller than the bull, and of a dun colour. Its appear- 

 ance is essentially that of wild cattle, though approaching 

 the deer in the fineness of its head and limbs. They have 

 a slight hump at the withers. 



It is not only an inhabitant of the jungles, but roams 

 over some of the open plains and fields, and is occasion- 

 ally ridden down and speared by English sportsmen. 

 They rove in small herds of half-a-dozen, or thereabouts, 

 and sometimes the bull is found alone. 



The skin of the bull is very thick and tough, and in 

 demand as furnishing, from the neck and chest, an excel- 

 lent material for the manufacture of native shields. 



There would appear to be three kinds of wild cattle in 

 India the Bison, the Wild Buffalo, and the Neilghye. 

 The latter is far the inferior in size and ferocity. 



CHEETUL (Cervus axis), the Spotted Deer of India, is a 

 beautiful creature, not unlike the Fallow Deer, but, I 

 think, rather smaller, and with some difference in the 

 form of the horns. They do not appear to be quite so 

 generally distributed as the Samber, but in many districts 

 are far more plentiful. They go in herds of from six to 

 sixty. I have heard of as many as six being killed by 

 one gun during the brief cool stalki rig-hours of the morn- 

 ing and evening. 



ANTELOPE (Kala Hurun of the natives, Black Buck of 

 the English Sportsman). I have described this animal in 



