THE INDIAN ANTELOPE. 113 



During the rainy season, however, they are fond of concealing themselves among high 

 standing crops, and only come out in the mornings and evenings. 



Black Buck are very pugnacious, and sometimes fight so desperately that they will allow 

 a person to walk close up to them without observing him. Many have their horns broken in 

 their combats, and I have seen one, both of whose horns were broken off within three inches 

 of the head. 



Antelope are usually found in considerable herds, varying in numbers from ten or a 

 dozen to a couple of hundred. A buck and one doe, or a buck and a couple of does, may 

 however be frequently met with ; and vast herds of many thousands have occasionally 

 been seen. 



When in large numbers they of course do much damage to crops, and it is with difficulty 

 that the natives drive them away. 



It is a beautiful sight when a herd of Antelope are first alarmed : as soon as they have 

 made up their minds that safety is only to be found in flight, first one, then another, bounds 

 into the air to a surprising height, just touching the earth, and again springing upwards, until 

 the whole herd are in motion. So light are their movements that they seem as if they were 

 suspended on wires. These bounds are only continued for a few strides, after which the 

 Antelope generally settle down into a regular gallop. 



The speed of the Antelope is wonderful, and it is seldom that greyhounds can pull down 

 an unwounded one ; but I know of one dog that has caught several, both bucks and does, 

 on fair ground. 



Antelope will go away when very hard hit, and a wounded one will often give a capital 

 run, if ridden after with spear or knife ; the latter is nearly as good as the former, for the 

 buck runs so game, that he will not, as a rule, give a chance of spearing him until he is so 

 completely exhausted, that he drops with fatigue, when one may dismount and cut his throat. 



The sportsman can choose between riding down or coursing his wounded Antelope ; but 

 either a good horse or a brace of greyhounds should always be in readiness, or the best 

 shot will have the mortification of seeing maimed animals escape to die a lingering death. 



The Antelope is usually the first quarry which falls to the rifle of the young sportsman 

 in India ; and although its pursuit is attended with far less excitement than in the case of 

 rarer and wilder animals, there is quite enough interest attached to it to induce the oldest 

 hunter to keep his hand in by an occasional day's Black Buck shooting ; while the tyro, if he 

 is possessed by the true hunter's spirit, will probably, for the time, consider that there is no 

 object in life so well worth striving for as the possession of a pair of horns, which seem to 

 his unpractised eye at least a yard long ! 



Being for the most part found on open plains, it is but seldom that Antelope can be 

 stalked, — -i. e., approached under cover ; but the hunter must usually contrive to get within 

 range by carefully watching their movements, and gradually edging nearer and nearer with- 

 out exciting their suspicions. Except in remote and undisturbed places it is seldom that 

 buck will allow any Englishman to walk straight up to within easy range, although they 

 will take no notice of natives working in the fields close to them. 



P 



