An unwounded doe was run down by three dogs belonging to officers of the Rifle Brigade in 1876, but on another occasion the writer saw a fawn run clean away from a good dog. Kinloch describes how the officers of the Guides used to hunt ravine deer with dogs and falcons.

L. THE FOUR-HORNED ANTELOPE (Tetraceros quadricornis)

Native names: generally ‘Charsingha,’ ‘Choka,’ ‘Doda’; in Chota Nagpur ‘Cháorang’ (Kinloch)

Four-horned antelopes are found thinly scattered all over India, but, according to Sterndale, not in Ceylon or Burmah. They are met with in Rajputana, but the writer has never heard of them in the Punjab.

They generally live alone or in pairs, and frequent bamboo jungle, or the long grass and bushes near forests.

Their colouring varies a good deal, but it is generally a reddish-brown, paler below the forelegs, and fetlocks dark; the latter being ringed with pale marks. The female is hornless. The male has two pairs of short, smooth black horns, the front pair, which is shorter than the other pair, growing almost above the eyes, while the rear pair rises just in front of the ears. The front pair are often mere knobs, and good specimen heads, with the four horns complete, are not easy to get; in fact, this antelope is such a small animal and sticks so persistently to cover, that the majority of those that are killed are bagged by lucky snap-shots. Sterndale quotes a letter in the ‘Asian,’ signed ‘Bheel,’ in which the writer remarks: ‘It is found in the thick jungles at the foot of the hills. It selects some secluded spot, which it does not desert when disturbed, returning invariably to its hiding-place when the coast is clear.’ This peculiarity might well be taken advantage of by any sportsman desirous of obtaining a specimen; on a four-horn being put up, his hiding-place might be noted, the attendants sent on a few hundred yards, and the sportsman remain behind to intercept the animal on its return. The writer has never tried this plan, but only offers the suggestion for what it is worth.

Measurements

AuthorityHeight at shoulderTotal lengthWeight as shotLength of hornsGirth of hornsSpan tip to tipRemarks
Antilope bezoartica
ins.ins.lbs.ins.ins.ins.
Mr. A. O. Hume......28¼517¾Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
Mr. Rowland Ward....Average 85......”
Sterndale3235..28....‘Triangle’ in ‘The Asian’
Major Ward......27¾....‘Sportsman’s Guide to Ladak, &c.’
Col. Kinloch......27....‘Large Game Shooting’
”......27....”
Sir V. Brooke......27519½Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
Captain Brooke......26¾....
Col. Kinloch......26¾....‘Large Game Shooting’
Mr. A. O. Hume......26⅜517⅞Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
Col. Kinloch......26....‘Large Game Shooting’
Gordon Cumming......26....‘Wild Men and Wild Beasts’
”......26....(An albino)
Captn. Hervey......25¾....
Mr. A. O. Hume......25⅝4¾20¾Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
Col. Martin......25½..15”
Sir J. Morris, K.C.S.I.......25⅛5⅛21¾”
Hume Collection, British Museum......25⅜5½14½”
”......254⅞19”
Colonel Howard......25....
Capt. H. Petre......25....
Gordon Cumming......25....‘Wild Men and Wild Beasts’
Major Greenaway33..........
‘Spherical,’ ‘Oriental Sporting Magazine,’ 1870....83.4......Average weight of bucks in Allahabad district
”....70.8......Average weight of bucks in Bundara district
Average of good head......20....
Portax pictus
Major FitzHerbert51....9½....
British Museum......9¼6¾4⅞Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
Col. Kinlochabout 56..........‘Large Game Shooting’
Mr. A. O. Hume......8⅞6⅝3½Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
The Writer......8¾7..
”......8¾7⅛..
Sterndale’s ‘Mammalia’52 to 5896 to 106..8 to 10....
Major FitzHerbert53..........
Major Greenaway55..........
”53....7½....
”50..........
Average of good head......8....