The book of antelopes, vol. 1 (of 4)Sclater, Philip Lutley
Science
The book of antelopes, vol. 1 (of 4)
Sclater, Philip Lutley
Antelopes
In his excellent ‘Manual of the Mammals of British India’ Dr. W.
T. Blanford describes the range of this Antelope as follows:--“The
Four-horned Antelope is found all along the base of the Himalayas from
the Punjab to Nepal. It also occurs in most parts of the Peninsula
where the country is wooded and hilly, but not in dense jungle, but
is not found in the Gangetic plain nor on the Malabar coast in the
Madras Presidency. It is said by Mr. Murray to be met with in Sind.
It is common in the wooded parts of Rajputana, throughout the Bombay
Presidency, the Central Provinces, and the northern parts of Madras;
it is less abundant to the eastward in Chhattisgarh, Chutia Nagpur,
Bengal, and Orissa, and to the southward in Mysore, but it occurs in
the latter State occasionally, and has been observed on the Nilgiri and
Palni hills. It is unknown in Ceylon and east of the Bay of Bengal.”
The experienced sportsman Mr. J. D. Inverarity of Bombay writes of this
species as follows:--“This is a forest-antelope, living entirely in the
jungle. It is not gregarious, but is met with either alone or in pairs.
The female brings forth one or two young, and occasionally the two old
and two young ones may be seen together. Though not forming a special
object of pursuit, a shot at the ‘Baikrie,’ as it is generally called
on the Bombay side of India, is often got when out stalking other game.
If you see one before it sees you it is fairly easy to stalk it; but
it more often happens that they see you first, when they will not
admit of approach. On three or four occasions they have stood stupidly
looking at me as I walked in full view slowly towards them, and have
allowed me to get within 20 yards before bolting. This only occurs when
one does not want to shoot them. Forsyth says that the females are more
numerous than the bucks, and bear the same proportion to each other as
the does and bucks of the black buck. At one time I thought the same
myself, but further experience has made me sure that this is not the
fact, and that bucks are nearly, if not quite, as numerous as does. The
female is hornless. The male has four horns; the posterior and larger
pair in a good specimen will be four inches long or a little more.
One-and-a-half inches is a good length for the anterior horns and is
not often exceeded. In some heads the anterior horns are absent, though
the bony knobs are covered with a callous black skin.”
The Four-horned Antelope is not unfrequently brought alive to Europe,
but cannot be said to accommodate itself very readily to our northern
climate. In 1868 a single specimen was received by the Zoological
Society of London as a present from the Babu Rajendra Mullick, of
Calcutta. In 1881 a pair of the typical form were acquired by purchase,
and bred in the Regent’s Park in the following spring. A female calf
was born on February 28th, 1882.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account