162 
WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WA YS 
CHAP. 
If there is a public road through the cultivated 
fields upon which these antelopes love to graze, 
you may sometimes pass them within ioo yards, 
provided that you are either riding or driving ; 
but if on foot, they will not permit a near approach, 
although they will take but little heed of ordinary 
natives. They are afraid of elephants, and will 
seldom allow them to come within 200 paces; 
the only method by which you can obtain an 
ordinary range is by stalking them with a horse 
or trained ox, or by following behind a bullock- 
cart such as the natives use upon their farms. 
The most favourable ground for black-buck is a 
mixture of great cultivated flats, with neighbouring 
tracts of wilderness, where low hills, broken ground, 
and thick bush afford a sanctuary for their retreat, 
and for the rearing of their young. 
A few shots fired upon a vast area of young 
wheat will soon scare the animals from the locality, 
and should there be no jungle, or hills within 
several miles, they will disappear entirely. 
If there is an extensive area of rough jungle to 
which they can retire, you may sometimes obtain 
good shots by stalking carefully up wind, as the 
animal may be discovered beneath the imaginary 
security of the bushes ; but even then the greatest 
caution must be observed, as the game is always on 
the alert. 
When, upon the open plain, the black-buck has 
arrived at the conclusion to retreat, the sight is most 
interesting, as the speed and agility of the animal are 
