to the ground. Coming on another
occasion upon a buck and doe with a young fawn, the whole party took
to flight, but the fawn being very young, the old ones endeavoured
to make it lie down. Finding, however, that it persisted in running
after them, the buck turned round and repeatedly knocked it over in
a cotton field until it lay still, when they ran off, endeavouring
to attract my attention. Young fawns are frequently found concealed
and left quite by themselves."--_Elliot_.

Jerdon adds: "When a herd goes away on the approach of danger, if
any of the does are lingering behind, the buck comes up and drives
them off after the others, acting as whipper-in, and never allowing
one to drop behind. Bucks may often be seen fighting, and are then
so intently engaged, their heads often locked together by the horns,
that they may be approached very close before the common danger
causes them to separate. Bucks with broken horns are often met with,
caused by fights; and I have heard of bucks being sometimes caught
in this way, some nooses being attached to the horns of a tame one.
I have twice seen a wounded antelope pursued by greyhounds drop
suddenly into a small ravine, and lie close to the ground, allowing
the dogs to pass over it without noticing, and hurry forward." ('Mamm.
of India,' p. 278.)

I have myself experienced some curious instances of the hiding
propensities spoken of by Sir Walter Elliot and Dr. Jerdon. In my
book on Seonee I have given a case of a wounded buck which I rode
down to the brink of a river, when he suddenly disappeared. The
country was open, and I was so close behind him that it seemed
impossible for him to have got out of sight in so short a space of
time; but I looked right and left without seeing a trace of him, and,
hailing some fishermen on the opposite bank, found that they had not
seen him cross. Finally my eye lighted on what seemed to be a couple
of sticks projecting from a bed of rushes some four or five feet from
the bank. Here was my friend submerged to the tip of his nose, with
nothing but the tell-tale horns sticking out.

This antelope attaches itself to localities, and after being driven
away for miles will return to its old place. The first buck I ever
shot I recovered, after having driven him away for some distance and
wounded him, in the very spot I first found him; and the following
extract from my journals will show how tenaciously they cling
sometimes to favourite places:-