196 Mr. W. T. BlanforiVs Zoological JS r otes. [No. 3, 



fact that the tract inhabited by them is contiguous to the area, Lower 

 Bengal and Assam, inhabited by the undoubtedly wild race. 3rd, the 

 circumstance that precisely the area mentioned comprises the range of 

 other animals also restricted, in India proper, to Bengal and the 

 neighbourhood ; e. g. Rucervus duvaucellii and Gallus ferrugineus^ 

 concerning the distribution of which I shall have something further 

 to say presently. 



6. The four-horned antelope (Tetracerus quadricomis.) 



This species is especially abundant in the trappean districts of 

 Western India, it is one of the commonest wild animals in Nimar, 

 Malwa, Khandeish, the western part of the Nerbudda valley, and 

 throughout the Taptee valley. It is also common along the Western 

 Grhats and in the Konkan about Bombay. It lives in jungle, and is 

 generally to be found near water. It is comparatively a solitary animal, 

 and I have never seen more than four together, the two parents and 

 their young. For a long time I was inclined to look upon the 

 animals with only the posterior pair of horns developed as a distinct 

 race, with lighter coloured fur, and I am by no means satisfied that 

 there is not a distinction to be drawn. The two horned specimens, in 

 the country I have mentioned above, are quite as numerous as the 

 four horned, and although they are fully adult, I have failed to find a 

 trace of the cores belonging to the anterior pair of horns on the skull ; 

 a specimen with all four horns fully developed and pointed is rare, 

 generally the anterior horns are mere knobs. 



Mr. Blyth is, I think, in error in his catalogue of the Mammalia in 

 Mus. As. Soc. p. 166, in applying the name Chikara to this animaL 

 The Chikara or Chinkara (the latter being the correct name, but the n 

 is nasal and very little sounded) is the name which I have heard 

 universally applied to the Indian gazelle, Antelope bemiettii, Sykes. The 

 4-horned antelope is called Chousingha in Hindee, as stated by Mr. 

 Blyth ; it is known by the Mahrattas as " Benkara" and by the Bheels 

 of Guzerat as Bokra or Bholcra. 



7. The Indian antelope and gazelle. (Antilope bezoartica, Aldr 

 and A. Bennettii, Sykes). Both of these animals can exist without 

 water. The antelope abounds on the strip of sand separating the 

 Chilka lake, which is quite salt, from the sea ; and on this strip the 

 only fresh water is obtained from one or two deep wells. The strip is 

 about 30 miles long. I have been assured by so many people that 



