Genus Tetraceros
Horns four, conical, smooth, slightly bent forward at tip, the anterior ones very short, sometimes rudimentary, which has led to the distinction of a separate species by some naturalists; slightly ringed at the base. The posterior ones situated far back on the frontal bone, the anterior ones above the orbits; eye-pits small, linear; muffle large; feet-pits in the hind feet; no groin-pits; four mammæ; canine teeth in the males; females hornless. The skull is characterized by the large sub-orbital fossæ which occupy nearly the whole cheek. The various species—sub-quadricornutus of Elliot, iodes and paccerois of Hodgson—are but varieties of the following only Indian species.
No. 463. TETRACEROS QUADRICORNIS.
The Four-horned Antelope (Jerdon’s No. 227).
Native Names.—Chowsingha, Chowka. Jerdon also gives Bherki, Bekra, and Jangli-bakra, but I have also heard these names given by natives to the rib-faced deer (Cervulus aureus); Bhir-kura (the male) and Bhir(female) Gondi; Bhirul of Bheels; Kotri, Bustar; Kond-guri, Canarese; Konda-gori, Telegu (Jerdon). Kinloch also gives Doda, Hindi.
Habitat.—Throughout India, but not in Ceylon or Burmah.
Description.—A small brownish-bay animal, slightly higher at the croup than at the shoulder, which gives it a poky look, lighter beneath and whitish inside the limbs and in the middle of the belly; fore-legs, muzzle, and edge of ears dark; fetlocks dark, sometimes ringed with lighter colour. The colouring varies a good deal. The horns are situated as I have before described; the anterior ones are subject to much variation; sometimes they are absent or represented merely by a black callous skin; others are merely little knobs; the largest seldom exceed an inch and a-half, and the posterior horns five inches.
Size.—Head and body, 40 to 42 inches; height at shoulder, 24 to 26 inches; at croup a little higher.
This little antelope, the smallest of Indian hollow-horned ruminants, is very shy and difficult to get, even in jungles where it abounds. It was plentiful in the Seonee district, yet I seldom came across it, and was long before I secured a pair of live ones for my collection. It frequents, according to my experience, bamboo jungle; but, according to Kinloch, Jerdon and other writers, it is found in jungly hills and open glades, in the forests, and in bushy ground near dense forests.
It is an awkward-looking creature in action, as it runs with its neck stuck out in a poky sort of way, making short leaps; in walking it trips along on the tips of its toes like the little mouse-deer (Meminna). The young are stated to be born in the cold season. General Hardwicke created great confusion for a time by applying the name chikara, which is that of the Gazella Bennetti, to this species. It is not good eating, but can be improved by being well larded with mutton fat when roasted. McMaster believes in the individuality of Elliot’s antelope (T. sub-quadricornutus), but more evidence is required before it can be separated from quadricornis. The mere variation in size, or the presence or absence of the anterior horns and the lighter shade of colour, are not sufficient reasons for its separation as a species, for the quadricornis is subject to variation in like manner.[39]
39 See notes in Appendix C.
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