56 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA 



the killing distance of the old weapon, and are easily 

 knocked over with the " Express." The depth of their 

 slender bodies is so small that a bullet must be planted 

 in a space little wider than a hand's-breadth to make 

 sure of stopping them. Shots are generally got at a 

 distance of from 100 to 150 yards; and the difficulty of 

 such fine shooting at uncertain distances, together with 

 their peculiar " dodginess " in keeping out of sight, makes 

 the stalking of them a more difficult, and I think more 

 interesting, sport than the pursuit of the larger antelope. 

 Their art has little variety in it, however; and there is 

 something to the experienced eye in the features of the 

 ground which will almost infallibly tell whereabouts one 

 is likely to have stopped after his first disappearance. 

 Unless they have been seen to go clean away, they should 

 always be followed up on the chance of being found 

 again. 



The last of the antelopes met with in the open country 

 is the Nilgae,^ the male of which, called a " blue bull," 

 will stand about 13 J hands high at the shoulder. The 

 female is a good deal smaller, and of a fawn colour. Their 

 habitat is on the lower hills that border and intersect the 

 plains, and also on the plains themselves wherever grass 

 and bushes afford sufficient cover. The old sites of 

 deserted villages and cultivation, unfortunately so common, 

 which are usually covered with long grass and a low 

 bushy growth of Palas and Jujube trees,^ are seldom 

 without a herd of nilgae. They are never found very 

 far from cultivation, which they visit regularly every 

 night. When little fired at, the blue bull is very easily 

 approached and shot. It is very poor eating, and affords 

 no trophy worth taking away, so that it is not much 

 sought after by the sportsman. The beginner, however, 

 who is steadying his nerves, or the inventor who wants 

 a substantial target for a new projectile, will find them 

 very accessible and convenient. The blue bull is an 

 awkward, lumbering, stupid brute ; and it is highly ludi- 

 crous to observe the air of self-satisfaction with which 

 a blockhead of a bull, who has allowed you to walk up 

 ^ Portaso j)ictus. ^ Butea frondosa, Zizyphus jujuba. 



