VOllTAX PICTUS. 



273 



lianges, and also in the extreme south of India. It is most abundant ia 

 in Central India, and in the country between the Jumna and Sutlej, but is 

 rare in the Punjab, according to Adams. It does not occur in Ceylon, 

 nor in Assam or the countries to the east of the Bay of Bengal. 



It frequents thin forests, and low jungles, and is often found in tolera- 

 bly open plains with only a few scattered bushes. It does not affect a 

 hilly country, but does not ayoid low hills clad with thin forest. It is 

 indifferent to the sun, except during the hottest weather. It associates 

 in small herds, varying from 7 or 8, to- 20 and upwards. It appears to go 

 at a lumbering ungainly pace, yet it requires a good horse and a hard run 

 to overtake one, and the only way to succeed certainly, is to press the ani- 

 mal with the utmost speed at first and blow him. 



The Nil-gai is not miich Sought after by the Indian sportsman, nor is 

 its flesh highly esteemed, yet at times it is excellent and juicy, and gives 

 a good beef steak. 



It is often caught young and becomes very tame, many being allowed 

 to wander about at large. They are apt however to get vicious at times. 

 It browzes a good deal, and is very fond of many kinds of fruit. Mr. 

 Elliot says that those he kept used to drop on their knees to feed, and 

 attacked and defended themselves by butting with the head. A very dark, 

 almost black one, was lately seen by more than one sportsman near Um- 

 balla. Blyth, Ogilby, and other naturalists, consider that the Nil-gai was 

 probably the hippelaphus of Aristotie, and not the Samber-deer, which 

 mpinion I quite endorse. 



Gen. Tetraceeos, Leach. 



Char. — Horns in the males only, erect, slightly bent forwards at the 

 tip, round, subulate, slightly ringed at the base, situated far back on the 

 frontal bone ; an additional pair of small horns situated between the orbits, 

 short, conical, sometimes replaced by a mere bony knob ; eye-pit moderate, 

 linear ; muffle large 5 feet-pits in the hind-feet only ; no inguinal pits ; 

 canines in the males ; four mammfe in the females. 



The form of these animals is not so elegant as that of the true antelope, 

 and their hair is harsher. They frequent jungles and thin forest, and do 

 not associate in herds, but are monogamous, and often found in pairs. 



This genus is strictly Indian, and there is only one well marked species 

 known. 



