wooded Malabar coast. It is abundant in the Deccan, in parts of the Doab 
between the Jumna and Ganges, also in Hurriana, Rajpootana, and the 
neighbouring districts. It is found in the Punjab, but does not cross 
the Indus.” 
McMaster, in his ‘ Notes on Jerdon’s Mammals,’ and Sterndale, in his 
‘Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon,’ besides numerous 
other writers in the ‘ Bengal Sporting Magazine’ and other periodicals, have 
published good field-notes upon the Black-buck, which is perhaps the 
most favourite object of pursuit of the sportsman in the plains of India. 
But one of the best summaries of all these observations is that put 
together by General Kinloch in his excellent work on ‘Large Game 
Shooting in Thibet, the Himalayas, Northern and Central India,’ from the 
third edition of which, published in 1892, we venture to quote the following 
extracts :— 
“The Indian Antelope, the male of which is universally known among sportsmen as 
the ‘ Black Buck,’ is generally distributed throughout India, being found from the foot 
of the Himalayas to the extreme south of the mainland, and from Eastern Bengal to 
the River Jhilam. There are, however, large tracts of country where it is not found, 
and it is essentially an inhabitant of the open cultivated plains, avoiding equally hills 
and dense jungles. The localities in which I know it to be most abundant are the 
desert near Ferézputr, in the Hissar District, and in the neighbourhood of Aligarh. The 
male is one of the most graceful and beautiful animals in creation, combining symmetry 
of form and brilliancy of coloring with marvellous speed and elasticity of movement. 
He stands about thirty-two inches at the shoulder, and when arrived at maturity the 
upper parts are of a deep glossy black, with the exception of a light chestnut-colored 
patch at the back of the neck, and some markings of the same color about the face. 
The lower parts and the inside of the limbs are snowy white, and the line between the 
black and white is most clearly defined. The hair is short and glossy, and the skin 
makes a very pretty mat. The horns are remarkably handsome, being spiral and 
annulated nearly to their tips. They vary considerably in length, in degree of spirality, 
in the number and prominence of rings, and in the angle at which they diverge. In 
Southern India they are said rarely to attain a greater length than twenty inches, but in 
the Panjab they have been found very much longer. I have seen two pairs of twenty- 
seven inches, and have heard of horns over twenty-eight in length. Young bucks are 
of a light fawn color, their coats gradually becoming darker with age, although I have 
seen full-grown buck with long horns which had hardly a black hair. The doe is of a 
light fawn above and white beneath, with a light-colored line along the side; she is not 
furnished with horns, except in very rare instances. When horns do appear they are 
slender and much curved, bearing no resemblance to those of the buck. Antelopes 
delight in extensive open plains where there are alternate wide tracts of cultivation and 
VOL, III. C 
