Genus I. BOSELAPHUS.

Type.
Boselaphus, Blainv. Bull. Soc. Philom. p. 75 (1816)B. tragocamelus.
Portax, H. Smith, Griff. An. Kingdom, v. p. 366 (1827)B. tragocamelus.
Tragelaphus, Ogilby, P. Z. S. 1836, p. 138B. tragocamelus.

Of large size and somewhat heavy build, with the withers considerably higher than the hind-quarters. Muzzle large and naked. Ears small. Tail reaching the hocks, tufted at the end, more or less fringed at the sides.

Skull very flat above, the parietals nearly in the same plane as the frontals; occipital ridge strong. Molars with long crowns; those of the upper jaw with accessory column.

Horns present only in male, short, shorter than length of face, broad and triangular in section at the base, with strong anterior basal ridge; base of horn inclined obliquely backwards, transversely ridged, distal extremity nearly vertical, lightly curved, smooth, and tapering.

Range of Genus. Restricted to the Peninsula of India.

One species only.

THE BOOK OF ANTELOPES, PL. LXXXVII.

J. Smit del. et lith.

Hanhart imp.

The Nilgai.

BOSELAPHUS TRAGOCAMELUS.

Published by R. H. Porter.

110. THE NILGAI.
BOSELAPHUS TRAGOCAMELUS (Pallas).
[PLATE LXXXVII.]

Antilope tragocamelus, Pallas, Misc. Zool. p. 5 (1766); id. Spic. Zool. i. p. 9 (1767), xii. p. 13 (1777); Erxl. Syst. R. A. p. 279 (1777); Zimm. Spec. Zool. Geogr. p. 540 (1777); Gatterer, Brev. Zool. pt. i. p. 80 (1780); Schreb. Säug. pl. cclxii. (1784); Bodd. Elench. Anim. p. 140 (1785); Gm. Linn. S. N. i. p. 184 (1788); Kerr, Linn. An. K. p. 308 (1792); Donnd. Zool. Beytr. i. p. 625 (1792); Forst. Zool. Ind. p. 39 (1795); Lath. & Dav. Faun. Ind. p. 4 (1795); Link, Beytr. Nat. p. 99 (1795); Bechst. Syst. Uebers. vierf. Th. ii. p. 77 (1799); Shaw, Gen. Zool. pt. ii. p. 329, fig. 190, lower fig. (1801); Turt. Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 112 (1802); Tiedem. Zool. i. p. 409 (1808); G. Fisch. Zoogn. iii. p. 412 (1814); Afz. N. Act. Upsal. vii. p. 220 (1815); G. Cuv. R. A. i. p. 264 (1817); Schinz, Cuv. Thierr. i. p. 396 (1821); G. Cuv. H. N. Mamm. iii. pl. xlvi. (1824); Masson, Cuv. R. A. p. 318 (1836).

Antilope (Bubalis) tragocamelus, Licht. Mag. nat. Freund, vi. p. 164 (1814).

Cemas tragocamelus, Oken, Lehrb. Nat. iii., Zool. p. 729 (1816).

Boselaphus tragocamelus, Scl. List Anim. Z. S. (8) p. 137 (1883), (9) p. 163 (1896); Flow. & Gars. Cat. Ost. p. 260 (1884); Blanf. Faun. Brit. Ind., Mamm. p. 517 (1891); Sclater f. Cat. Mamm. Calc. Mus. p. 154 (1891); Flow. & Lyd. Mamm. p. 345 (1891); Ward, Horn Meas. (1) p. 151 (1892), (2) p. 192 (1896); Lyd. Horns and Hoofs, p. 145 (1893); id. Royal Nat. Hist. ii. p. 278 (1894); Trouessart, Cat. Mamm. pt. iv. p. 956 (1898).

Portax tragelaphus, Sund. Pecora, K. Vet.-Ak. Handl. lxv. p. 198 (18–16) (corrected to tragocamelus, p. 323, 1847); id. Hornsch. Transl., Arch. Skand. Beitr. ii. p. 149 (tragocamelus, p. 315) (1848); Reprint, p. 73.

Portax tragocamelus, Gray, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 146; id. Knowsl. Men. p. 28, pl. xxix. (1850); id. Cat. Ung. B. M. p. 141 (1852); Adams, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 523; Wood, Ill. Nat. Hist. i. p. 667, fig. (1862); Gerr. Cat. Bones Mamm. B. M. p. 247 (1862); Blyth, Cat. Mamm. Mus. As. Soc. p. 165 (1863); Gray, Cat. Rum. B. M. p. 51 (1872); id. Hand-l. Rum. B. M. p. 121 (1873).

Antilope picta, Pallas, Spic. Zool. xii. p. 14 (1777); Schieb. Säug. pls. cclxiii. & cclxiii. B, ♂, ♀ (1784); Bodd. Elench. Anim. p. 141 (1785); Gm. Linn. S. N. i. p. 184 (1788); Pennant, Quadr. ed. i. p. 74, pl. vii. (1781), ed. 3, p. 83, pl. xiii. (1793); Linn. An. K. p. 309 (1792); Donnd. Zool. Beitr. i. p. 625 (1792); Lath. & Dav. Faun. Ind. p. 4 (1795); Link, Beytr. Nat. p. 99 (1795); Cuv. Tabl. Elém. p. 163 (1798); Bechst. Syst. Uebers. vierf. Th. ii. p. 78, pl. 9 (1799); Shaw, Gen. Zool. pt. ii. p. 327, fig. 189 (1801); Turt. Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 112 (1802); G. Cuv. Dict. Sci. Nat. ii. p. 248 (1804); Afz. N. Act. Upsal. vii. p. 220 (1815); G. Cuv. R. A. i. p. 264 (1817); Goldf. Schreb. Säug. v. p. 1159 (1818); Desmoul. Dict. Class. d’H. N. i. p. 447 (1822); G. Cuv. H. N. Mamm. iii. pl. xlvi. (1824); J. B. Fisch. Syn. Mamm. p. 476 (1829); Bennett, Gard. & Menag. Z. S. i. p. 125 (1830); Sykes, P. Z. S. 1831, p. 105; Masson, Cuv. R. A. i. p. 318 (1836); Waterh. Cat. Mus. Z. S. (2) p. 42 (1838); Schinz, Syn. Mamm. ii. p. 449 (1845); id. Nat. Abb. d. Säug. p. 355, t. 161 (1824).

Antilope (Damalis) picta, Schinz, Mon. Antil. p. 44, t. 49 (1848).

Antilope (Bubalus) picta, Laurill. Dict. Univ. d’H. N. i. p. 625 (1861).

Antilope (Cephalolophus) picta, Gieb. Säug. p. 323 (1853).

Cemas picta, Oken, Lehrb. Nat. iii., Zool. p. 729 (1816).

Damalis picta, J. Brooke, Cat. Mamm. p. 64. (1828).

Boselaphus pictus, Blainv. Bull. Soc. Philom. p. 75 (1816); Desm. Mamm. ii. p. 471 (1822); Lesson, Man. Mamm. p. 384 (1827); Gerv. Dict Sci. Nat., Suppl. i. p. 266 (1840); Less. N. Tabl. R. A., Mamm. p. 181 (1842).

Portax picta, Less. Compl. Buffon, x. p. 304 (1836); Gray, List Mamm. B. M. p. 154 (1843); Jardine, Nat. Libr. xxii. p. 182, pl. xvi. (1845); Wagner, Schreb. Säug. Suppl. iv. p. 467 (1844); id. op. cit. v. p. 450 (1855); Reichenb. Säug. iii. p. 148 (1845); Hutton, Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, xv. p. 150 (1846); Gray, Cat. Ost. B. M. p. 59 (1847); Horsf. Cat. Mamm. E.-I. Comp. p. 170 (1851); Jerdon, Mamm. India, p. 272 (1867); Fitz. SB. Ak. Wien, lix. pt. 1, p. 181 (1869); McMaster, Notes on Jerdon’s Mamm. p. 122 (1870); Kinloch, Large Game Shooting, i. p. 55 (1876); Brehm, Thierl. iii. p. 251, fig. (1880); Sterndale, Mamm. Ind. p. 476 (1884); Kinloch, Large Game Shooting, p. 93 (1885); Jent. Cat. Ost. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, ix.) p. 141 (1887); id. Cat. Mamm. Leyd. Mus. (Mus. Pays-Bas, xi.) p. 173 (1892); Percy, Badminton Big Game Shooting, ii. p. 353 (1894).

Antilope albipes, Erxl. Syst. R. A. p. 280 (1777); Gatterer, Brev. Zool. pt. i. p. 81 (1780); Zoogn. iii. p. 411 (1814).

Boselaphus albipes, Desm. Nouv. Dict. d’Hist. N. (2) ii. p. 199, pl. xxxiii. fig. 2 (1816).

Antilope leucopus, Zimm. Spec. Zool. Geogr. p. 541 (1777); Forst. Zool. Ind. p. 39 (1795); id. Descr. Anim. p. 377 (1844).

Damalis risia, H. Sm. Griff. An. K. iv. p. 363 (1827); Elliot, Madras Journ. x. p. 226 (1839).

Damalis (Portax) risia, H. Sm. Griff. An. K. v. p. 366 (1827).

Tragelaphus hippelaphus, Ogilby, P. Z. S. 1836, p. 138; Rüpp. Verz. Senck. Mus. iii. pt. 2, p. 181 (1839).

Nyl-ghau, Wm. Hunter, Phil. Trans. lxi. p. 170 (1771).

White-footed Antelope, Penn. Syn. p. 29, pl. vi. (1771); id. Quadr. i. p. 74, pl. vii. (1781); id. op. cit. ed. 3, p. 83, pl. xiii. (1793).

Vernacular Names:—Nil, Nilgao (♂), Nilgai (♀); Roz Rojh, Rojra in Hindustani; Rú-i in Dakhani, Mahratti, and Guzrati; Guraya, Gond; Murim (♂), Susam (♀), in Ho Kal; Mánú-potú in Tamil; Mairu Maravi, Kard-Kadrai, Canarese (Blanford).

Male. About four feet six inches in height at the withers. General colour of the head iron-grey, due to the hairs being black at the base and white at the extremities; nose, neck, and cheeks tinted with black; whitish grey above the eye; two small white cheek-spots generally traceable. Lips and chin white; a large white patch at the upper extremity of the throat; inter-ramal area also white. Ears greyish white, blacker behind towards the extremities, and furnished with two black spots on the outer edge in front. Upper parts of the body iron-grey, like the head; lower portion, chest, and belly black, except a median ventral white streak; groin, inner side of thighs above, and subcaudal area of rump pure white, the latter emphasized on each side by a black vertical streak on the buttocks. Tail white below and at the sides, grey above; tuft white at the base, black at the tip. Fore and hind limbs black inside and outside, except for two large white spots on the front and outer sides of the pasterns and on the outer and inner sides of the fetlocks; fetlock-spot of hind leg sometimes extending right round the front to form a complete half-ring; the corresponding spots on the fore legs much smaller, the outer obsolete. A long tuft of black hair on the throat below the white patch; a short hog-mane on the nape formed of stiff hairs, whitish at the base, blackish at the ends; parting of hair on the withers; behind this point a spinal mane of longish black hairs extends to nearly the middle of the back and is represented as far as the root of the tail by a narrow stripe of short black hairs.

Female. Without horns. Smaller and slighter than the male and of a fawn or tawny hue throughout, but with the same white patches and markings as in the male, the fetlock and pastern spots being very conspicuous and set off with black. A short hog-mane on the nape, but no tuft on the throat.

Young male. Like the female in colour.

Measurements of an adult male skull:—Basal length 16·3 inches, greatest breadth 5·75, muzzle to orbit 10, horn 8·5.

Horns usually from 8 to 9 inches long, with a basal girth of about 8 inches, and rarely reaching a length of 11·75 inches, with a basal girth of 9·5.

Hab. The Peninsula of India from the base of the Himalayas to the south of Mysore; North-west Provinces, Eastern Punjab, Guzerat, and the Konkan; but not extending to the Indus on the west, nor into Eastern Bengal, nor into Malabar. Entirely absent from the countries to the east of the Bay of Bengal.

The Asiatic division of the Tragelaphine group, which, in the existing stage of the Earth’s fauna, is represented only by the present species, is nearly as different in its structure as it is in its geographical range from its African brethren, being at once distinguishable by its short hind limbs, untwisted horns, bovine nose, and hypsodont molars, not to mention its very different style of colour. The Asiatic form might, in fact, be more naturally arranged as constituting a Subfamily of itself, but we are content to follow recent authorities who have associated this animal with the more typical Tragelaphs of Africa.

The “Nilgai” (said by some authorities to be more correctly written “Nilgau,” from nil or lil, blue, and gau, cow) was first introduced into scientific literature by Pallas in his memoir on the genus Antilope published in 1766. Pallas’s “Antilope tragocamelus,” as he called this species, was based partly upon Ray, who quoted from Gesner, and partly on the description of Dr. James Parsons, F.R.S., who, in the forty-third volume of the ‘Philosophical Transactions,’ published in 1745, gave a very fair description of this animal from a living male specimen “brought,” as he tells us, “from Bengal, and shown in London.” There can be no doubt as to the identity of Parsons’s “Quadruped,” whatever we may say regarding the less accurate descriptions of Ray and Gesner, and it follows, consequently, that “tragocamelus” must be used as the earliest and most correct specific name of the Nilgai.

In the supplement to his memoir on the genus Antilope published in 1777, besides A. tragocamelus, Pallas introduced into his list an Antilope picta, founded upon Pennant’s “White-footed Antelope.” On referring to Pennant’s description and figure of this animal in his ‘Synopsis of Quadrupeds,’ there can be no doubt whatever that they likewise refer to the Nilgai. They were taken, as the author informs us, from a pair of animals living at Clermont in 1770. Following Pallas’s second name, a large number of authorities, as will be seen by our list of synonyms, have used pictus and picta as the specific name of the Nilgai; but, as we have already pointed out, tragocamelus is prior in point of date, and being also unquestionably applicable, should have the preference.

Erxleben’s name “albipes” and Zimmermann’s “leucopus,” both founded on Pennant’s “White-footed Antelope,” have likewise been proposed for the present species, but are also both later in date. Again, in 1827, Hamilton Smith adopted “risia” as the specific name of the Nilgai on account of some fancied objection to the term picta. But in this change few have been found to follow him. Finally, in 1836, Ogilby proposed to alter the name of the Nilgai to hippelaphus, because he thought it was the true Hippelaphus of Aristotle. This is possibly the case, but it does not necessitate the suggested change of the specific term.

As regards the generic name of the Nilgai, we have fortunately only two to choose from—Boselaphus of De Blainville, published in 1816, and Portax of Hamilton Smith, proposed in 1827. Of these two, according to the rules of Zoological Nomenclature, we employ the oldest; and the scientific name of the Nilgai consequently becomes Boselaphus tragocamelus, as was first adopted by Sclater in 1883.

Before proceeding further we must call attention to the excellent account of the Nilgai read before the Royal Society in 1774 by the great physiologist and physician William Hunter and published, along with an excellent figure of the animal by Stubbs, in the 61st volume of the ‘Philosophical Transactions,’ from which we make the following extracts:—

“Among the riches which of late years have been imported from India may be reckoned a fine animal, the Nyl-ghau; which, it is to be hoped, will now be propagated in this country, so as to become one of the most useful, or at least one of the most ornamental beasts of the field. It is larger than any ruminant of this country, except the ox; its flesh probably will be found to be delicious; and, if it should prove docile enough to be easily trained to labour, its great swiftness, with considerable strength, might be applied, one would think, to valuable purposes.

“Good paintings of animals give much clearer ideas than descriptions. Whoever looks at the picture, which was done under my eye by Mr. Stubbs, that excellent painter of animals, can never be at a loss to know the Nyl-ghau, wherever he may happen to meet with it. However, I shall attempt a description of the animal; and then give as much of its history as I have been hitherto able to learn. The account will be imperfect: yet it will give naturalists some pleasure in the meantime to know even a little of a large and elegant animal, which has not hitherto been described or painted.”

After a capital description of both sexes of this animal from the living specimens, Hunter proceeds as follows:—

“Of late years several of this species, both male and female, have been brought to England. The first were sent from Bombay by Gov. Cromelen, as a present to Lord Clive: they arrived in August 1767. They were male and female, and continued to breed every year. Afterwards two were brought over, and presented to the Queen by Mr. Sullivan. From Her Majesty’s desire to encourage every useful or curious enquiry in natural knowledge, I was permitted to keep these two for some time, which enabled me to describe them, and to get a correct picture made, and, with my brother’s assistance, to dissect the dead animal, and preserve the skin and skeleton. Lord Clive has been so kind to give me every help that he could furnish me with in making out their history; so has General Carnac, and some other gentlemen.

“At all the places in India, where we have settlements, they are rarities, brought from the distant interior parts of the country, as presents to Nabobs and great men. Lord Clive, General Carnac, Mr. Walsh, Mr. Watts, and many other gentlemen, who have seen much of India, tell me they never saw them wild. So far as I have yet found, Bernier is the only author who has ever mentioned them.

“In the fourth vol. of his Mémoires, he gives an account of a journey which he undertook, ann. 1664, from Delhi, to the province of Cachemire, with the Mogul Aurengzeb, who went to that terrestrial paradise, as it is esteemed by the Indians, to avoid the heat of the summer. In giving an account of the hunting, which was the Emperor’s amusement in this journey, he describes, among others, that of le Nyl-ghau, but without saying more of the animal than that the Emperor sometimes kills them in such numbers as to distribute quarters of them to all his Omrachs; which shows that they were there wild, and in plenty, and esteemed good or delicious food.

“This agrees with the rarity of these animals at Bengal, Madras, and Bombay; for Cachemire is the most northern province of the Empire, and it was on the march from Delhi to that place that Bernier saw the Emperor hunt them.”

Although, as we have already seen, living specimens of the Nilgai were long ago brought to Europe, little addition was made to our knowledge of this animal in its native state until the days of Elliot, Jerdon, and Hodgson. In 1839 Sir Walter Elliot included the Nilgai in his catalogue of the Mammals of the Southern Mahratta country, where he states “it is found in the thick low jungles.” Jerdon, in his volume on the Mammals of India, tells us that the Nilgai “frequents thin forests and low jungles, but is also often found in tolerably open plains with only a few scattered bushes. It associates in small herds, varying from 7 or 8 to 20 and upwards.”

Mr. Robert A. Sterndale, whose popular manual on the Mammals of India and Ceylon was published in 1884, does not speak favourably of his experience of the flesh of the Nilgai as an article of diet:—“The Nilgao,” he says, “feeds on Beyr (Zizyphus jujuba) and other trees, and at times devours such quantities of the intensely acrid berries of the Aoula (Phyllanthus emblica) that its flesh becomes saturated with the bitter elements of the fruit. This is most noticeable in soup, less so in a steak, which is at times not bad. The tongue and marrow-bones, however, are generally as much as the sportsman claims, and in the Central Provinces at least the natives are grateful for all the rest.”

Col. Kinloch, who writes of the Nilgai mainly from a sporting point of view, gives us the following account of this animal:—

“The Nilgai does not hold a very high place among the Game-animals of India, and is seldom shot by any but young sportsmen, unless meat is required for camp-followers. It is, however, one of the largest and most conspicuous of the ruminants to be found in the plains, and no records of Indian sport would be complete without some notice of it.

“The bull is a large and powerful beast, attaining a height of at least 14 hands at the withers, which are high and narrow like those of a horse. The neck is long and compressed, and the head slender and deer-like, the eyes being remarkably full and lustrous. The hind-quarters fall away considerably, giving the animal rather an awkward appearance. The legs are slender and wiry, and the hoofs rather upright. The tail is tufted, something like that of the domestic cow, but it is not so long in proportion, reaching only to the hocks. The color is a dark bluish grey, deepening to nearly black in very old individuals, while the legs are jet-black, curiously marked with white patches about the fetlocks. The throat is white, and from the lower part of it depends a long tuft of blackish hair, while the hair on the withers is developed into a thin upright mane.

“The cow is of a light brown colour, and is destitute of horns. The young males are like the females, but become gradually darker with age.

“Nilgai inhabit extensive grass-and tree-jungles, but appear to prefer those that are not very thick, and interspersed with occasional bare open spaces. Their favorite cover seems to be that composed of the ‘dhák’ or ‘palás’ tree (Butea frondosa). They are also fond of resorting to the sugar-cane fields, and they frequently commit considerable damage among cultivation. They are generally to be found in herds, varying in number from four or five to twenty, and composed of both sexes; but occasionally small parties of old Blue Bulls, and even solitary bulls, are to be met with. In places where they are not disturbed, especially in some of the Native States, Nilgai are absurdly tame, but in districts where they are much molested they become extremely shy and wary. It must not therefore be supposed that they can always be easily shot, but they afford such a poor trophy that, as already mentioned, they are not much sought after. When they can be found sufficiently far from thick cover, they may be speared, and they then show capital sport; as they will probably lead a well-mounted horseman a chase of several miles. On hard ground I doubt if a cow Nilgai could be speared by a solitary hunter; the bull, being much heavier, is more easily ridden down.

Fig. 98.

Skull and horns of an adult male Nilgai.

(Brit. Mus.)

“The flesh of a cow Nilgai is occasionally excellent, and the tongue and marrow-bones are supposed to be delicacies. They are, however, hardly worth shooting, except when one is in want of meat for Mahomedan servants: Hindoos, of course, will not touch the flesh.”

Fig. 99.

Frontlet of an adult male Nilgai.

(Brit. Mus.).

The Nilgai does well in captivity, and, as we have already mentioned, several of the original descriptions of this animal by the older writers were based on specimens brought alive to Europe. In 1824 both sexes of the Nilgai were well figured by Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire and F. Cuvier in their

‘Histoire Naturelle des Mammifères,’ from specimens living in the Jardin des Plantes. In 1845, as we learn from Gray, the Nilgai bred in the Knowsley Menagerie, and there was at that time a herd of a male and four females kept in one of the paddocks along with the Elands. In 1847 the half-grown male and young were drawn from some of these specimens by Waterhouse Hawkins, and the figures were published in the twenty-ninth plate of the ‘Gleanings.’ The Nilgai has been an inhabitant of the Zoological Society’s Menagerie from its commencement. In 1830 it was described and figured in the first of the two volumes on the ‘Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society’ by Vigors and Bennett, and in February 1831, as recorded in the ‘Proceedings,’ a specimen of a young one, born at the Society’s farm at Kingston, was exhibited and described at one of the Scientific Meetings. This appears to have been the first instance of its breeding in the Society’s Gardens, but since that date many other examples have been received, and the species has frequently bred in the Menagerie. On referring to the Society’s registers we find that this has taken place in 1856, 1864, 1866, 1868, and 1869. As a general rule, two young ones are produced at the same birth; but the young animals, although they thrive well, are excessively shy and timid, as is also the case with many others of the Deer and Antelopes, so that, if frightened, they frequently injure themselves by rushing against the fences of their paddocks.

Our coloured illustration of the Nilgai (Plate LXXXVII.) has been prepared from specimens of both sexes of this animal now living in the Zoological Society’s Gardens, where they were received in exchange on October 14th, 1896.

There is a good mounted example of the male Nilgai in the British Museum, obtained from the Zoological Society’s Gardens in 1896, besides two other older mounted specimens kept in store. There are also specimens of heads of this animal from the Khalcote jungle south of Mhow, presented by Col. J. Evans, and from Jullunder near Sangor, presented by Mr. G. A. Carmichael, and some skulls and horns from Oude and the North-west Provinces, presented by Mr. A. O. Hume, C.B. From the last of these the drawings of the skull and horns and frontlet of an adult male (figs. 98 and 99) have been prepared.

November, 1899.