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.

[Illustration: _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, 6-1/2 to 7 feet; tail 18 to 22 inches; height
at shoulder, from 13 to 14-1/2 hands; horns, from 8 to 10 inches.

The nilgao inhabits open country with scrub or scanty tree jungle,
also, in the Central provinces, low hilly tracts with open glades
and valleys. He feeds on beyr (_Zizyphus jujuba_) and other trees,
and at times even devours such quantities of the intensely acrid
berries of the _aonla_ (_Phyllanthus emblica_) that his flesh
becomes saturated with the bitter elements of the fruit. This is most
noticeable in soup, less so in a steak, which is at times not bad.
The tongue and marrow-bones, however, are generally as much as the
sportsma