CHAPTER XVII. 



THE NILGAO. 



PORTAX PlCTUS. 

 Generally throughout India. — Nil Gdo. In the Punjab.— Roz. 



The Nilgao does not hold a very high place among the Game animals of India, and is 

 seldom shot by any but young sportsmen, unless meat is required for camp-followers. It is, 

 however, one of the largest and most conspicuous of the ruminants to be found in the plains, 

 and no records of Indian sport would be complete without some notice of it. In general 

 appearance, the Nilgao more nearly resembles the bovine Antelopes of Africa than any of 

 the Asiatic species, and the resemblance is heightened by the peculiar markings to which it 

 owes its specific name. The Nilgao or Blue Bull (a literal translation of the vernacular name 

 for the male) is widely distributed, being found in suitable localities in nearly every province 

 of the Indian Peninsula. As far as I know, it is most common in parts of the Punjab and 

 North-West Provinces, and in the Central Provinces. 



The bull is a large and powerful beast, attaining a height of at least fourteen hands at the 

 withers, which are high and narrow like those of a horse. The neck is long and compressed, 

 and the head slender and deer-like ; the eyes being remarkably full and lustrous. The hind 

 quarters fall away considerably, giving the animal rather an awkward appearance. The legs 

 are slender and wiry, and the hoofs rather upright. The tail is tufted, something like that 

 of the domestic cow, but it is not so long in proportion, reaching only to the hocks. 



The color is a dark bluish grey, deepening to nearly black in very old individuals, while 

 the legs are jet black, curiously marked with white patches about the fetlocks. The throat 

 is white, and from the lower part of it depends a long tuft of blackish hair, while the hair on 

 the withers is developed into a thin upright mane. 



A friend of mine told me that the first Blue Bull he ever saw was standing facing him 

 on a road in an out-of-the-way part of the country, and fairly puzzled him. He thought 

 the apparition was more like the devil than anything else ! and it was not till the beast 

 turned away that he saw that it was a four-footed animal, and not something less ' canny.' 

 The short black horns which the bull possesses added much to the likeness to the conventional 

 description of His Satanic Majesty ! 



