Horns on back edge of frontal bone behind the orbit, short, recurved, conical and smooth, angular at the base; bovine nose with large moist muffle; small eye-pits; hind legs shorter than the front; tail long and tufted; back short, sloping down from high withers; the neck deep and compressed like a horse, with a short upright mane; on the throat of the male under a white patch is a long tuft of black hair. In the skull the nasal opening is small, and the molars have, according to Dr. Gray, supplementary lobes. Dr. Jerdon says: "There is a small pit in front of the orbit, and anterior to this a small longitudinal fold, in the middle of which there is a pore through which exudes a yellow secretion from the gland beneath."
The female has sometimes in an abnormal condition been found with horns. Mr. J. Cockburn, in a letter to The Asian (11th of November, 1879, p. 40), describes such a one.
[NO. 462. PORTAX PICTUS vel TRAGOCAMELUS.]
The Nylgao or Blue Bull (Jerdon's No. 226).
NATIVE NAMES.—Nilgao, Nilgai, or Lilgao, Lilgai, Rojra or Rojh, Rooi (female), Hindi; Guraya, Gondi; Maravi, Canarese; Manupotu, Telegu.
HABITAT.—India generally, from the Himalayas to the south. It is not common south of the Ganges, nor, according to Jerdon, is it found in the extreme south of India.
| Portax pictus. |
DESCRIPTION.—A horse-like animal at the first glance, owing to its lean head, long, flat, and deep neck, and high withers, but with cervine hind-quarters, lower than in front. The male is of an iron grey colour, intensified by age; the inside of the ears, lips, and chin are white; a large white patch on the throat, below which is the pendant tuft of black hair; the chest, stomach, and rings on the fetlocks, white; mane, throat-tuft and tip of tail, black. The female is a sandy or tawny colour, and is somewhat smaller than the male.
SIZE.—Length of male, 6½ to 7 feet; tail 18 to 22 inches; height at shoulder, from 13 to 14½ hands; horns, from 8 to 10 inches.