GenusI. ANTILOPE.

Size medium. Muzzle hairy. A large anteorbital gland present. Tail short, compressed. Mammæ 2. Accessory hoofs present. Glands in all the feet and in the groin.

Skull with deep pits between the orbits, very small or no lachrymal vacuities, and large anteorbital fossæ. Molars tall and narrow.

Horns long, placed close together, widely divergent, cylindrical, spirally twisted, closely ringed throughout. Female normally hornless.

Range of the Genus.Peninsula of India.

One species only is known.

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XLVII.J. Smit, del. & lith.Hanhart imp.The Black-buckANTILOPE CERVICAPRA.Published by R. H. Porter.

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. XLVII.

J. Smit, del. & lith.

Hanhart imp.

The Black-buck

ANTILOPE CERVICAPRA.

Published by R. H. Porter.

Gazella africana—The Antelope,Ray, Quadr. p. 79 (1693).Capra cervicapra,Linn.Syst. Nat. (10) i. p. 69 (1758), (12) i. p. 96 (1766).Antilope cervicapra,Pall.Misc. Zool. p. 9 (1766);id.Spic. Zool. i. p. 18 (1767), xii. p. 19 (1777);Erxl.Syst. R. A. p. 283 (1777);Zimm.Spec. Zool. Geog. p. 542 (1779);id.Geogr. Gesch. ii. p. 116 (1780);Gatt.Brev. Zool. i. p. 81 (1780);Schreb.Säug. pl. cclxviii. (1785);Bodd.Elench. Anim. p. 142 (1785);Gmel.Linn. S. N. i. p. 192 (1788);Kerr, Linn. An. K. p. 319 (1792);Donnd.Zool. Beitr. i. p. 644 (1792);Lath. & Dav.Faunula Indica, p. 4 (1795);Link, Beytr. Nat. ii. p. 90 (1795);G. Cuv.Tabl. Élém. p. 164 (1798);Bechst.Syst. Uebers. vierf. Th. ii. p. 644 (1800);Shaw, Gen. Zool. ii. pt. 2, p. 336 (1801);Turt.Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 116 (1802);Desm.N. Diet. d’H. N. (1) xxiv. Tabl. p. 33 (1804);G. Cuv.Dict. Sci. Nat. ii. p. 235 (1804);Tied.Zool. i. p. 410 (1808);Licht.Mag. nat. Freund. vi. p. 172 (1814);G. Fisch.Zoogn. iii. p. 437 (1814);Afz.N. Act. Ups. vii. p. 220 (1815);Desm.N. Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 180 (1816);G. Cuv.R. A. i. p. 261 (1817);Goldf.Schr. Säug. v. p. 1214 (1818);Schinz, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 389 (1821);Desm.Mamm. ii. p. 451 (1822);Desmoul.Dict. Class. d’H. N. i. p. 443 (1822);H. Sm.Griff. An. K. iv. p. 231, v. p. 337 (1827);Less.Man. Mamm. p. 370 (1827);J. B. Fisch.Syn. Mamm. p. 457 (1829);Gray & Hardw.Ill. Ind. Zool. i. pls. xii. & xiii. (1832);Benn.P. Z. S. 1836, p. 34;Og.P.Z. S. 1836, p. 137;Less.Compl. Buff. x. p. 289 (1836);Oken, Allg. Nat. vii. p. 1377 (1838);Elliot, Madr. Journ. x. p. 222 (1839);Laurill.Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 620 (1839);Gerv.Dict. Sci. Nat. i. p. 260 (1840);Hodgs.J. A. S. B. x. p. 913 (1841);Less.N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 175 (1842);Forst.Descr. Anim. p. 379 (1844);Wagn.Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 416 (1844), v.p. 409 (1855);Schinz, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 408 (1845);Hutton, J. A. S. B. xv. p. 150 (1846);Sund.Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1845, p. 270 (1847);id.Hornsch. Transl. Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 266; Reprint, p. 86 (1848);Schinz, Mon. Ant. p. 10, pl. ix. (1848);Temm.Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 190 (1853);Gieb.Säug. p. 312 (1853);Kinloch, Large Game Shooting in Tibet, p. 59 (1869) (pl., head);Blanf.J. A. S. B. xliv. pt. 2, p. 19 (1875);Ball, P. A. S. B. 1877, p. 171;Brehm, Thierl. iii. p. 198 (1880);Scl.List Anim. Z. S. (8) p. 144 (1883), (9) p. 158 (1896);Flow. & Gars.Cat. Coll. Surg. ii. p. 266 (1884);Kinloch, Large Game Shooting, 1885, p. 112, 1892, p. 153, pl. (head);Jent.Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (M. P.-B. ix.) p. 137 (1889);W. Scl.Cat. Mamm. Calc. Mus. ii. p. 162 (1891);Blanf.Mamm. Brit. Ind. p. 521 (1891);Flow. & Lyd.Mamm. p. 340 (1891);Ward, Horn Meas. (1) p. 95 (1892), (2) p. 139 (1896);Jent.Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (M. P.-B. xi.) p. 169 (1892);Lyd.Horns and Hoofs, p. 152 (1893).Cerophorus(Antilope)cervicapra,Blainv.Bull. Soc. Philom. 1816, p. 75.Strepsiceros cervicapra,Rüpp.Verz. Senck. Mus. p. 39 (1842).Antilope rupicapra,Müll.Natursyst. Supp. p. 56 (1776) (exl’Antilope,Buff.Hist. Nat. xii. p. 273, pls. xxxv. & xxxvi. 1764).Cemas strepsiceros,Oken, Lehrb. Nat. p. 732 (1816).Antilope,F. Cuv.H. N. Mamm. (fol.) iii. livr. xliii. (♂) & xliv. (♀) (1824).“Antilope bilineata, Linn. MS.,”Gray & Hardw.Ill. Ind. Zool., lettering to pl. xii. (1832) (juv.).Cervicapra bezoartica,Gray, List Mamm. B. M. p. 159 (1843);id.Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 231 (1846);id.Cat. Mamm. Nepal, Hodgson Coll. (1) p. 26 (1846), (2) p. 13 (1863);id.List Ost. B. M. p. 56 (1847);id.Knowsl. Men. p. 6 (1850);Horsf.Cat. Mamm. E. I. C. p. 167 (1851);Gerr.Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 234 (1862);Fitz.SB. Wien, lix. 1, p. 162 (1869).Antilope bezoartica,Gray, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 117;id.Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 66 (1852);Blyth, Cat. Mamm. As. Soc. p. 171 (1863);Jerdon, Mamm. Ind. p. 275 (1867);Blanf.J. A. S. B. xxxvi. pt. 2, p. 196 (1867);Macmaster, Notes on Jerdon, pp. 134 & 258 (1870);Stol.J. A. S. B. xli. pt. 2, p. 229 (1872);Gray, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 40 (1872);id.Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 109 (1873);Pollok, Sport in Brit. Burmah, p. 50 (1879);Sterndale, Mamm. Ind. p. 472 (1884);Percy, Badminton Big Game Shooting, ii. p. 345 (1894).

Gazella africana—The Antelope,Ray, Quadr. p. 79 (1693).

Capra cervicapra,Linn.Syst. Nat. (10) i. p. 69 (1758), (12) i. p. 96 (1766).

Antilope cervicapra,Pall.Misc. Zool. p. 9 (1766);id.Spic. Zool. i. p. 18 (1767), xii. p. 19 (1777);Erxl.Syst. R. A. p. 283 (1777);Zimm.Spec. Zool. Geog. p. 542 (1779);id.Geogr. Gesch. ii. p. 116 (1780);Gatt.Brev. Zool. i. p. 81 (1780);Schreb.Säug. pl. cclxviii. (1785);Bodd.Elench. Anim. p. 142 (1785);Gmel.Linn. S. N. i. p. 192 (1788);Kerr, Linn. An. K. p. 319 (1792);Donnd.Zool. Beitr. i. p. 644 (1792);Lath. & Dav.Faunula Indica, p. 4 (1795);Link, Beytr. Nat. ii. p. 90 (1795);G. Cuv.Tabl. Élém. p. 164 (1798);Bechst.Syst. Uebers. vierf. Th. ii. p. 644 (1800);Shaw, Gen. Zool. ii. pt. 2, p. 336 (1801);Turt.Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 116 (1802);Desm.N. Diet. d’H. N. (1) xxiv. Tabl. p. 33 (1804);G. Cuv.Dict. Sci. Nat. ii. p. 235 (1804);Tied.Zool. i. p. 410 (1808);Licht.Mag. nat. Freund. vi. p. 172 (1814);G. Fisch.Zoogn. iii. p. 437 (1814);Afz.N. Act. Ups. vii. p. 220 (1815);Desm.N. Dict. d’H. N. (2) ii. p. 180 (1816);G. Cuv.R. A. i. p. 261 (1817);Goldf.Schr. Säug. v. p. 1214 (1818);Schinz, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 389 (1821);Desm.Mamm. ii. p. 451 (1822);Desmoul.Dict. Class. d’H. N. i. p. 443 (1822);H. Sm.Griff. An. K. iv. p. 231, v. p. 337 (1827);Less.Man. Mamm. p. 370 (1827);J. B. Fisch.Syn. Mamm. p. 457 (1829);Gray & Hardw.Ill. Ind. Zool. i. pls. xii. & xiii. (1832);Benn.P. Z. S. 1836, p. 34;Og.P.Z. S. 1836, p. 137;Less.Compl. Buff. x. p. 289 (1836);Oken, Allg. Nat. vii. p. 1377 (1838);Elliot, Madr. Journ. x. p. 222 (1839);Laurill.Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 620 (1839);Gerv.Dict. Sci. Nat. i. p. 260 (1840);Hodgs.J. A. S. B. x. p. 913 (1841);Less.N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 175 (1842);Forst.Descr. Anim. p. 379 (1844);Wagn.Schr. Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 416 (1844), v.p. 409 (1855);Schinz, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 408 (1845);Hutton, J. A. S. B. xv. p. 150 (1846);Sund.Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. 1845, p. 270 (1847);id.Hornsch. Transl. Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 266; Reprint, p. 86 (1848);Schinz, Mon. Ant. p. 10, pl. ix. (1848);Temm.Esq. Zool. Guin. p. 190 (1853);Gieb.Säug. p. 312 (1853);Kinloch, Large Game Shooting in Tibet, p. 59 (1869) (pl., head);Blanf.J. A. S. B. xliv. pt. 2, p. 19 (1875);Ball, P. A. S. B. 1877, p. 171;Brehm, Thierl. iii. p. 198 (1880);Scl.List Anim. Z. S. (8) p. 144 (1883), (9) p. 158 (1896);Flow. & Gars.Cat. Coll. Surg. ii. p. 266 (1884);Kinloch, Large Game Shooting, 1885, p. 112, 1892, p. 153, pl. (head);Jent.Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (M. P.-B. ix.) p. 137 (1889);W. Scl.Cat. Mamm. Calc. Mus. ii. p. 162 (1891);Blanf.Mamm. Brit. Ind. p. 521 (1891);Flow. & Lyd.Mamm. p. 340 (1891);Ward, Horn Meas. (1) p. 95 (1892), (2) p. 139 (1896);Jent.Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (M. P.-B. xi.) p. 169 (1892);Lyd.Horns and Hoofs, p. 152 (1893).

Cerophorus(Antilope)cervicapra,Blainv.Bull. Soc. Philom. 1816, p. 75.

Strepsiceros cervicapra,Rüpp.Verz. Senck. Mus. p. 39 (1842).

Antilope rupicapra,Müll.Natursyst. Supp. p. 56 (1776) (exl’Antilope,Buff.Hist. Nat. xii. p. 273, pls. xxxv. & xxxvi. 1764).

Cemas strepsiceros,Oken, Lehrb. Nat. p. 732 (1816).

Antilope,F. Cuv.H. N. Mamm. (fol.) iii. livr. xliii. (♂) & xliv. (♀) (1824).

“Antilope bilineata, Linn. MS.,”Gray & Hardw.Ill. Ind. Zool., lettering to pl. xii. (1832) (juv.).

Cervicapra bezoartica,Gray, List Mamm. B. M. p. 159 (1843);id.Ann. Mag. N. H. (1) xviii. p. 231 (1846);id.Cat. Mamm. Nepal, Hodgson Coll. (1) p. 26 (1846), (2) p. 13 (1863);id.List Ost. B. M. p. 56 (1847);id.Knowsl. Men. p. 6 (1850);Horsf.Cat. Mamm. E. I. C. p. 167 (1851);Gerr.Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 234 (1862);Fitz.SB. Wien, lix. 1, p. 162 (1869).

Antilope bezoartica,Gray, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 117;id.Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 66 (1852);Blyth, Cat. Mamm. As. Soc. p. 171 (1863);Jerdon, Mamm. Ind. p. 275 (1867);Blanf.J. A. S. B. xxxvi. pt. 2, p. 196 (1867);Macmaster, Notes on Jerdon, pp. 134 & 258 (1870);Stol.J. A. S. B. xli. pt. 2, p. 229 (1872);Gray, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 40 (1872);id.Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 109 (1873);Pollok, Sport in Brit. Burmah, p. 50 (1879);Sterndale, Mamm. Ind. p. 472 (1884);Percy, Badminton Big Game Shooting, ii. p. 345 (1894).

Vernacular Names:—Ena♂,HarinaandMirga, in Sanscrit;Haran,Harna♂,Harni♀,Kalwit♀,Mrig, in Hindostani;Kala♂,Goria♀, in Tirhoot;Kalsar♂,Baoti♀, in Behar;Buretain Bhagalpur;BarantorSasinin Nepal;Alali♂,Gandoli♀, in Baori;Baduin Ho Kol;Bamani-haranin Uria and Mahratta;Phandayatin Mahratta;Kutsarin Korku;Veli-manin Tamil;Irri♂,LediandJinkain Telugu;ChigriandHúlé-karain Canarese (Blanford).

Height of male at withers about 30 inches. General colour in the same sex brown, gradually darkening with age to deep shining black. Muzzle and chin, an area round the eyes, and the whole of ears white. Back of neck, especially in the black individuals, yellowish. Upper part of flanks with an indistinct narrow whitish line running along them, most conspicuous in the young. Chest, belly, and inner sides of limbs pure white; outer sides of the latter brown. Tail short, its upperside fawn or brown, beneath white; its end with an indistinct blackish tuft.

Female brownish fawn wherever the male is black, and with the colour-contrasts nowhere so conspicuous. Back of ears and nape of neck also fawn. Horns absent, except in abnormal cases (see p. 14).

Skull as described above. The dimensions of a skull of a male are:—Basal length 8·3 inches, greatest breadth 4·0, muzzle to orbit 4·9.

Hab.India, from the base of the Himalayas to Cape Comorin, and from the Punjab to Lower Assam; but not found in Ceylon or to the east of the Bay of Bengal.

The Indian Antelope or Black-buck, as the male is universally called by sportsmen, is usually associated with the Gazelles, and we retain it in this position, although it deviates from all the other members of the subfamily in having its horns spirally twisted somewhat after the manner of theTragelaphinæ. It likewise differs from the rest of the group as regards the strong contrast of colour between the sexes, although this is of course a comparatively trifling character.

This Antelope, although strictly confined to India south of the Himalayas, has been more or less known in Europe for a long period, probably since the invasion of India by Alexander the Great. It has been even conjectured that the twisted horn of the fabled Unicorn of mediæval writers may have been originally based upon single horns of the present animal, though other authorities are inclined to refer the Unicorn’s horn to the Narwhal. This, however, is rather an antiquarian than a zoological question.

In the two last and most complete editions of the ‘Systema Naturæ’ Linnæus based hisCapra cervicapraupon the descriptions of several of his predecessors (Gesner, Aldrovandus, Ray, and Brisson), which certainly refer to the present species, and we may therefore safely adoptcervicaprafor it as its specific term. The namebezoarticaof Linnæus, which has been employedin its place by some authorities, refers to quite a different animal, probably to one of the wild goats, but certainly not to the Indian Antelope.

As regards the generic appellation of the present animal, we have already explained our reasons for following the general practice of the best modern authors in considering theCapra cervicapraof Linnæus to be the type of the genusAntilope, although Pallas, who founded the genus, did not give it precedence in his list of species. But the fact is that Pallas in his day never realized the importance attached in modern times to the exact designation of the types of genera, and had probably no intentions in the matter. The correct scientific name of the Black-buck is therefore, in our opinion,Antilope cervicapra.

The authors immediately subsequent to Linnæus, whose numerous references we quote in our synonymy, added little or nothing to our knowledge of the Indian Antelope. Shaw and other writers of the same date continued the story (which originally arose from its being confounded with the Addax) of its being met with in Africa as well as India—a fallacy which appears to have been first exposed by Lichtenstein in his excellent article on the genusAntilope, published in 1814. But accurate information on this Antelope and its exact range and habits was only obtained when the fauna of the Indian Peninsula came to be investigated by those whom the increase of English influence caused to be resident in that country.

After General Hardwicke, the late Sir Walter Elliot was among the first of the British residents in India who turned his special attention to the zoology of British India. In 1839 he published an excellent article upon the mammals of the Southern Mahratta country. Here, he tells us, the Indian Antelope “frequents the plains in herds of from twenty to thirty, each of which contains only one buck of mature age, the others being young ones.” In some cases the herds are so large that one buck has fifty or sixty does in its company, while the younger bucks, driven away by the old ones, wander about in separate herds, which sometimes contain as many as thirty individuals of different ages.

Jerdon, in his ‘Mammals of India,’ published in 1867, following Gray, calls the Indian AntelopeAntilope bezoartica, but gives us a good account of it. It is found, he says, throughout India in suitable localities, but is not met with elsewhere. “It is rare in Bengal, a few only extending into Purneah and Dinagepore, north of the Ganges; and it does not occur in the richlywooded 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 Jhílam. 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 Ferózpúr, in the Hissár District, and in the neighbourhood of Álígarh. 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 Panjáb they have been found very much longer. I haveseentwo pairs of twenty-seven inches, and haveheardof 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 andwaste land, repairing as a rule to the fields for food, and resting when they can on bare and sandy soil. During the rainy season, however, they are fond of concealing themselves among high-standing crops, and only come out in the mornings and evenings. Black Buck are very pugnacious, and sometimes fight so desperately that they will allow a person to walk close up to them without observing him. Many have their horns broken in their combats, and I have seen one both of whose horns were broken off within three inches of the head. Antelopes are usually found in considerable herds, varying in numbers from ten or a dozen to a couple of hundred. A buck and one doe, or a buck and a couple of does, may, however, be frequently met with; and vast herds of many thousands have occasionally been seen. When in large numbers they of course do much damage to the crops, and it is with difficulty that the natives drive them away. It is a beautiful sight when a herd of Antelopes are first alarmed; as soon as they have made up their minds that safety is only to be found in flight, first one, then another bounds into the air to a surprising height, just touching the earth, and again springing upwards, until the whole herd are in motion. So light are their movements that they seem as if they were suspended on wires. These bounds are only continued for a few strides, after which the Antelopes generally settle down into a regular gallop. The speed of the Black Buck is wonderful, and it is seldom that greyhounds can pull down an unwounded one; but I knew one dog that caught several, both bucks and does, on fair ground. Antelopes will go away when very hard hit, and a wounded one will often give a capital run, if ridden after with spear or knife; the latter is nearly as good as the former, for the buck runs so game, that he will not, as a rule, give a chance of spearing him until he is so completely exhausted that he drops with fatigue, when one may dismount and cut his throat. The sportsman can choose between riding down or coursing his wounded Antelope; but either a good horse or a brace of greyhounds should always be in readiness, or the best shot will have the mortification of seeing maimed animals escape to die a lingering death.”

The chase of the Black-buck by the Cheetah (Cynælurus jubatus) is a favourite sport of the native Princes and Nobles of India. General Kinloch, in the work we have just quoted, describes one of these chases, in which he took part, as follows:—

“Early one morning at the beginning of June, M. (a brother Officer) and I rode out with the Chítá cart, and had not proceeded very far across the fields, which were then almost destitute of vegetation, when some Black Buck were discovered in the distance. M. then took his seat beside the keeper of the cart, while I rode alongside, taking care to keep the cart between me and the Antelope. The herd had evidently been hunted before, and in spite of careful manœuvring would never allow us to approach within a hundred and fifty yards, which the keeper considered too great a distance for a successful slip. Several other antelope were followed with a similar result, but at last a herd that were grazing in a very rough field permitted the bullocks to trot up to within a hundred yards. The Chítá was now unhooded, and on catching sight of the game he spranglightly from the cart, but instead of at once giving chase, he walked quietly towards the Antelope, which, being now alarmed, were rapidly increasing their distance. I began to think that he had no intention of pursuing, and the Antelope were nearly two hundred yards off, when he gradually increased his speed, and after a few strides bounded after them with such amazing velocity that in a few seconds he was in the middle of the now flying herd. Passing several small ones, he singled out one of the finest buck, and in less time than it takes to describe it buck and Chítá rolled over in a cloud of dust. The chase had not extended much over three hundred yards. Galloping to the spot, I found the buck lying on his back, while the Chítá crouched quietly by him with his fangs buried in the throat. The keeper quickly came up, terminated the buck’s existence with his knife, and catching the blood in a wooden ladle, presented it to the Chítá, who lapped it up with relish. A haunch was then cut off, and the Chítá seizing it bounded back into his cart, where he proceeded to devour it at his leisure. The buck was a fine one, with twenty-three inch horns.”

Excellent accounts of the distribution and habits of the Indian Antelope have also been lately published in Dr. Stanford’s ‘Mammals of British India,’ and in the second volume of ‘Big Game Shooting’ in the Badminton Library. In the latter we find described the following curious method of getting within close range of the Black-buck as practised in Central India:—

“A trained Black-buck and doe are taken out, each having a light cord about ten yards long attached to it, and the pair are led by an attendant, a light screen about three feet square made of grass and leaves with a small hole in the centre being carried by the shikari. The whole party moves under cover of a third man on horseback to within about three hundred yards of a herd of antelopes. The screen is then planted on a spot commanding a good view; the men on foot crouch behind it, and the horseman rides slowly off on the flank. The two tame Antelopes are then let out to the full extent of their lines on one side of the screen, and begin playing round one another. The master buck of the herd, seeing an impertinent intruder on his ground, trots out at once to do battle for the doe, but the screen puzzles him, so before coming close he generally circles round to try and see behind it. As he moves, the screen is shifted round, the men scrambling round on hands and knees behind it, and if there are two Englishmen bursting with suppressed laughter in addition to the two natives, all scuffling round as the screen moves and trying to keep their legs out of sight, the business is most comical. Directly the wild buck stops, the screen and the men behind it must remain motionless. Having failed to discover what is behind the screen, the buck, though he is still suspicious, feels that he must try to capture that enticing doe, but decides on having a look on the other side of the screen first, so back he gallops to the other flank, and the scrambling process is repeated. Gradually he comes within range, the rifle is poked through the hole in the screen and he gets his quietus. After this the tame Antelopes are given a handful of corn, and the party sets out to look for another herd. The tamebuck employed in this manœuvre should be a brown one, as if an old powerful-looking black one is used the wild buck will often decline the contest.”

The Indian Antelope bears captivity easily, and specimens of it are to be seen in all the Zoological Gardens of Europe, in some of which it has bred and multiplied very successfully. In other places it has not done so well, apparently requiring a light soil and a considerable amount of protection from the inclemencies of a northern climate.

In the celebrated Menagerie at Knowsley fifty years ago this Antelope is stated by Gray to have bred but once at the time he was writing of it (1846). But shortly afterwards the herd of this animal in Lord Derby’s possession appears to have increased very rapidly. When the Menagerie was dispersed by auction after the Earl’s death in 1851 we find that four males and four females of this Antelope were entered in the sale-list, all described as having been bred at Knowsley. These passed into the possession of the late Viscount Hill, of Hawkstone, who at that epoch shared Lord Derby’s tastes in his love for keeping living animals.

So far as we can tell from an inspection of the Zoological Society’s records, the first specimens of the Black-buck received by the Society were brought home by Col. Sykes (a well-known authority on Indian zoology) from Bombay in 1831. In the ‘Proceedings’ of the Society for 1836 Mr. E. T. Bennett, then Secretary of the Society, published some interesting remarks on this herd, especially referring to the vexed question of the use of the lachrymal sinus in Antelopes, which, from consideration of the relative development of it in the several specimens then in the Society’s Gardens, he showed was in all probability subservient to sexual purposes.

As will be seen by reference to the nine published editions of the ‘Lists of Animals in the Society’s Collection,’ numerous specimens of the Black-buck have been acquired by the Society since that date, but, probably on account of the small free space assigned to them, little or no success has been met with in breeding this beautiful species in the Regent’s Park. On the other hand, at the Jardin d’Acclimatation at Paris and in other places under a climate more genial than our own, where large paddocks can be assigned to it, the Black-buck frequently reproduces in captivity and flourishes exceedingly.

No figures of the Black-buck having been drawn under the late Sir Victor Brooke’s directions, our illustrations of this beautiful Antelope (Plate XLVII.)have been taken by Mr. Smit from two mounted specimens in the British Museum of Natural History, the male of which, from Gwalior, was presented by Mr. C. Maries, of the Gwalior Museum.

Fig. 45.Horns of Black-buck, ♂. (In the Collection of Mr. A. O. Hume.)

Fig. 45.

Horns of Black-buck, ♂. (In the Collection of Mr. A. O. Hume.)

Fig. 46.Abnormal horns of female Indian Antelope.(In the collection of Mr. A. O. Hume.)

Fig. 46.

Abnormal horns of female Indian Antelope.(In the collection of Mr. A. O. Hume.)

The National Collection possesses other examples of this Antelope, besides a fine series of heads and horns, mostly from Rajpootana and the Punjáb, belonging to the splendid collection of these objects presented to the British Museum by Mr. A. O. Hume, C.B. In order to show the large dimensions to which the horns of the adult male Black-buck attain in Rajpootana and Hurriana we give a drawing (fig. 45) of a beautiful pair still in the possession of Mr. Hume, which attained a length of no less than 28¼ inches measured in a straight line. On referring to the long list of the dimensions of the horns ofthis Antelope published in Mr. Rowland Ward’s ‘Records of Big Game,’ it will be found that only one pair of greater length than the horns which we now figure have been hitherto recorded. We also give (fig. 46) a figure of the skull and abnormal horns of a female of this Antelope in Mr. Hume’s Collection.

August, 1897.

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