Tetraceros subquadricornis, Gray, List Mamm. B. M. p. 159 (1843); Turner, P. Z. S. 1850, p. 170.
Vernacular Names:—Chousingha, Chouka, or Doda, Hindi; Benkra or Bekra, Mahratti; Bhokra, Phokra, Guzerati; Bhirki at Saugor; Bhir, Gond; Bhirul, Bheel; Kotari in Chutia Nagpur; Kurus, Gonds of Bastar; Konda-gori, Telugu; Kond-guri, Kaulla-kuri, Canarese; Jangli Bakri in the Deccan (Blanford). The Southern Indian names may be taken as referring to subsp. subquadricornutus.
Height at withers about 25 inches. General colour dull rufous brown, whitish below, the line of demarcation on both sides not sharply defined. Muzzle, outer side of ears, and a line down the front of the limbs blackish brown. Outer sides of fetlocks whitish.
Skull and horns as described above (p. 213). Dimensions of an adult male skull: basal length 6·5 inches, greatest breadth 3·2, muzzle to orbit 3·65.
Horns straight, or the posterior pair slightly curving forwards; the latter are from two to three times the length of the anterior pair. Mr. Blanford states that the anterior are usually from 1 to 1½ inch long, while the posterior are from 3 to 4 inches; while the best head recorded by Mr. R. Ward, from the collection of Sir E. Loder, has a front horn of 2½, a back one 4⅜ inches.
The subspecies T. q. subquadricornutus is similar in all respects to the typical form, with the exception that the anterior horns are either entirely absent, or are represented merely by small horny knobs, which often fall off and leave a black callous patch.
Hab. Peninsula of India, south of the Himalayas (in suitable localities).
The Four-horned Antelope, the single representative of the genus Tetraceros, is the only member of this subfamily of Antelopes found in Asia, and in its present distribution is confined to India south of the Himalayas. This species was first named by the French zoologist De Blainville, in course of a memoir read before the Société Philomathique of Paris in 1816. It was based upon a skull which he appears to have seen in London in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. For several years little more was known of this animal, but in 1824 it was figured by Geoffroy St.-Hilaire and F. Cuvier in their ‘Histoire Naturelle des Mammifères,’ from a drawing (accompanied by notes) forwarded to them by Duvaucel, a well-known French naturalist who was then in India. In the meantime Major-General Thomas Hardwicke, a name well known in Indian zoology, who had become well acquainted with the animal during his residence in India, had described it in a memoir read before the Linnean Society in 1823. Owing to the delay in the publication of Hardwicke’s paper, which was printed in the fourteenth volume of the Linnaean Society’s ‘Transactions,’ the description and figure of this animal in the ‘Histoire Naturelle des Mammifères’ appeared first, as is stated by Hardwicke in an addendum to his memoir. Hardwicke declared that Duvaucel’s figure and notes had been taken from a drawing which that naturalist saw in Hardwicke’s possession when he visited the Major-General at Dum-dum in 1822. Hardwicke states that on that occasion Duvaucel also saw specimens of both sexes of this animal, which were then alive in his possession, and suggests that Duvaucel’s imperfect notes were also drawn up on this occasion. As this seems a very probable explanation of what took place, I think that we must allow that our countryman Hardwicke was the first to recognize this species, although it is unfortunate that he gave it the name of Antilope chickara, as that vernacular name is, throughout all India, applied to the Indian Gazelle.
In 1839 Sir Walter (then Mr.) Elliot, in his Catalogue of the Mammals of the Southern Mahratta country, published in the ‘Madras Journal’ for that year, proposed, rather hesitatingly, to separate the form of this Antelope which occurs in that district under the name subquadricornutus, from the fact that the anterior pair of horns are in some cases not developed at all, and in other cases only occur as small projections on the skull. But Blyth, one of our leading authorities upon Indian mammals, after discussing this question, came to the conclusion that the specimens forwarded to Calcutta by Mr. Elliot did not differ specifically from the common Bengal form, the fact being that in this Antelope the development of the front horns is very variable, and that in many cases these organs appear to be reduced to mere tubercles, or to be altogether absent. Blyth allowed that this reduction of the front horns is more general in specimens from the southern districts of India, although individuals with fully developed front horns are likewise occasionally found in that part of its range. Blyth also subsequently stated that he had seen horns of both the supposed species which had been obtained in the same district near Midnapore (see J. A. S. B. xvi. pt. 2, p. 879).
A figure of the head of the Four-horned Antelope is given by General Kinloch in his useful work on ‘Large Game Shooting in Thibet and the North-West.’ His account of this species is as follows:—“Four-horned Antelopes are generally found alone, or frequently in pairs; they conceal themselves in long grass or among low bushes, and somewhat resemble hares in their habits. They are seldom to be seen out feeding, but usually jump up at the feet of the hunter and bound away at a great pace. I have observed that they generally make their appearance when least expected, and I do not recollect ever meeting with one among the Sewaliks when I have been actually hunting for them.”