94 



THE NILGAO. 



The horns grow from the forehead, and incline slightly forwards ; they seldom exceed 

 nine inches in length, so a Blue Bull's head is not much of a trophy. 



The cow is of a light brown color, and is destitute of horns. The young males are 

 like the females, but become gradually darker with age. 



Nilgai inhabit extensive grass and tree jungles, but appear to prefer those that are not 

 very thick, and interspersed with occasional bare open spaces. Their favorite cover seems to 

 be that composed of the ' dhdk ' or ' palds ' tree {Butea frondosd). They are also fond of 

 resorting to sugar-cane fields, and they frequently commit considerable damage among cul- 

 tivation. 



They are generally to be found in herds, varying in number from four or five to twenty, 

 and composed of both sexes ; but occasionally small parties of old Blue Bulls, and even 

 solitary bulls, are to be met with. In places where they are not disturbed, especially in some 

 of the Native States, Nilgai are absurdly tame, but in districts where they are much molested 

 they become extremely shy and wary. It must not therefore be supposed that they can 

 always be easily shot, but they afford such a poor trophy that, as already mentioned, they 

 are not much sought after. When they can be found sufficiently far from thick cover, they 

 may be speared, and they then show capital sport ; as they will probably lead a well-mounted 

 horseman a chase of several miles. On hard ground, I doubt if a cow Nilgai could be 

 speared by a solitary hunter : the bull, being much heavier, is more easily ridden down. 



I have never succeeded in accomplishing this feat, never having had the good luck to 

 find a Blue Bull sufficiently far from cover. A friend of mine, however, on one occasion 

 speared an old bull single-handed off a little Arab horse. The bull gave a run of about 

 five miles, and took nine spears before he died : he did not attempt to charge. 



The Nilgao is occasionally domesticated, but like all pets of the deer and antelope tribe, 

 becomes very dangerous. I have heard of their being broken to harness, but have never 

 seen it. I once tried to tame a young bull by Mr. Rarey's plan, but after many long strug- 

 gles, and getting the animal quiet for the time, I found that he became just as wild as soon 

 as he recovered from his exhaustion. 



The flesh of a cow Nilgai is occasionally excellent, and the tongue and marrow bones 

 are supposed to be delicacies. They are, however, hardly worth shooting, except when one 

 is in want of meat for Mahomedan servants : Hindoos, of course, will not touch the flesh. 



In my early hunting days, I was, like most youngsters, extremely anxious to bag a 

 Nilgai, and spent many days in some jungles where only a few existed, in unsuccessful 

 attempts to secure a Blue Bull. Although traces of the animals were constantly met with, 

 the Nilgai remained invisible, until at last one day, just as I had shot a Black Buck, I saw 

 two Blue Bulls quietly feeding among some cattle in thin ' bdbiW jungle. Under cover of 

 the cattle, I found no difficulty in approaching within fair range ; but over-anxiety caused 

 me to make a bad shot, and my bullet, instead of striking behind the shoulder, caught the 

 poor bull somewhere about the centre of the body, and with a tremendous plunge and a 

 kick he disappeared in the bushes, and I saw him no more. 



There were a few in the ' Khadir ' near Meerut, and on one occasion, when out pig- 



