Vernacular Names:—Ena ♂, Harina and Mirga, in Sanscrit; Haran, Harna ♂, Harni ♀, Kalwit ♀, Mrig, in Hindostani; Kala ♂, Goria ♀, in Tirhoot; Kalsar ♂, Baoti ♀, in Behar; Bureta in Bhagalpur; Barant or Sasin in Nepal; Alali ♂, Gandoli ♀, in Baori; Badu in Ho Kol; Bamani-haran in Uria and Mahratta; Phandayat in Mahratta; Kutsar in Korku; Veli-man in Tamil; Irri ♂, Ledi and Jinka in Telugu; Chigri and Húlé-kara in 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 the Tragelaphinæ. 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 his Capra cervicapra upon the descriptions of several of his predecessors (Gesner, Aldrovandus, Ray, and Brisson), which certainly refer to the present species, and we may therefore safely adopt cervicapra for it as its specific term. The name bezoartica of Linnæus, which has been employed in 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 the Capra cervicapra of Linnæus to be the type of the genus Antilope, 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 genus Antilope, 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.