CHAPTER IV.

THE CERVIDÆ, OR ANTLERED RUMINANTS: THE ELK, ELAPHINE, SUB-ELAPHINE, AND RUSINE DEER.

The Deer Tribe--Distinguishing Characters--Exceptions to the rule--The Musk (Deer) and Chinese Water Deer--Other Characters of the Cervidæ--Antlers, their Nature, Growth, and Shedding--The Knob--“Velvet”--Getting rid of the “Velvet”--Full equipment--Contests--Interlocking Antlers--Distribution--Classification--Development of Antlers in the Common RED DEER--Explanation of the various stages--Splendid “Heads”--Simple and Complex Antlers--Types of Antlers--THE ELK, OR MOOSE DEER--Appearance--Antlers--Habits--Hunting--THE ELAPHINE DEER--THE RED DEER--Distribution--Appearance--Hunting--THE WAPITI--Acting of the Fawns--THE PERSIAN DEER, OR MARAL--THE CASHMERIAN DEER, OR BARASINGHA--Habits and General Appearance--BARBARY DEER--SUB-ELAPHINE DEER--THE JAPANESE, FORMOSAN, AND MANTCHURIAN DEER--THE FALLOW DEER--Peculiarity of its Antlers--THE PERSIAN FALLOW DEER--THE RUSINE DEER--THE SAMBUR, OR GEROW--Habits--Species of Java, Formosa, Sumatra, Borneo, Timor, Ternate, and the Philippines--THE HOG DEER--THE AXIS DEER--PRINCE ALFRED’S DEER--THE SWAMP DEER--SCHOMBURGK’S DEER--ELD’S DEER, OR THE THAMYN--Description--Habits--Hunting--Shameful havoc.

The Deer tribe, known scientifically as that of the CERVIDÆ, is more circumscribed, and therefore better defined, than are the BOVIDÆ, or hollow-horned ruminants. Their best distinguishing character is that in the males there is each year developed a pair of antlers which is shed at the end of the season to be reproduced in the following spring. The females do not carry antlers, except in the case of the Reindeer, in which, although these elegant appendages are of the same form as in their mates, they are constructed upon a much smaller scale. There are, however, one or two Deer in which not even the males carry antlers, and these are the only members of the family with reference to which there is any serious doubt on the subject of affinity. The Musk (_Moschus moschiferus_) may be taken as an example. In this pretty creature, which is more fully described on pages 42-3, there are no antlers and no horns. Nevertheless, other peculiarities in its organisation have led most naturalists to include it among the Cervidæ, a position which is, however, so doubtful that it is quite possible that it may be an aberrant member of the bovine section, as we have for several reasons thought best to consider it.

A more certain Deer without antlers is the Water Deer of China, the flesh of which has formed an article of food among the natives of Shanghai for years. This small Deer has lengthy tusks, as has the Musk Deer, and nearly every member of the family in which the antlers are diminutive. Its very existence was not known in Great Britain until the year 1862, when Mr. Swinhoe, then our consul at Shanghai, described it, which shows how ignorant we still may be of the creatures which inhabit the mighty Celestial Empire.

In most other respects the Deer closely resemble the hollow-horned ruminants. Their complicated stomach does not differ from that of the Ox, and their other organs are constructed upon the same plan, except the liver, which, like that of the Giraffe, lacks a gall-bladder, this reservoir being present in nearly all the Bovidæ. Their general proportions are also much the same. The Red Deer and the Fallow Deer are those best known to most of us, as both are to be found living in Great Britain, as is the Roebuck in the north of Scotland.

The nature, growth, and shedding of the antlers deserve special consideration. In the commencement of the spring a pair of knobs is to be seen upon the forehead of the adult male animal. This is covered with a nearly smooth dark skin; and a scar can be detected in the middle of each, which is that left by the antler of the year before, where it fell off.

As the weather becomes more propitious these knobs commence to grow, feel warm to the touch, and are evidently filled with actively-circulating blood, supplied by special vessels which are developed at the time. They do not increase regularly in all directions, for if they did the antler would be a sphere, but they sprout out, as it may be termed, around the above-mentioned scar; in most cases there being one branch which takes a direction forward, whilst a second larger one makes its way backward. These become, in the fully-formed antler, the brow antler and the main beam; and it is by other branches growing upon the beam, according to definite laws, different in different species, that the elaborate complications of the fully-developed structure are produced.

As long as the antler, which is composed of genuine bone of very dense texture, is increasing in size, it will be found to be covered with the same warm black skin as is the knob from which it sprang; and as this skin is covered with short, fine, close-set hair, it has received the name of the “velvet.” It is this “velvet” which secretes the bony texture of the antler from its inner surface, just in the same way that the outer covering (the periosteum) of any long bone of the body is mainly concerned in the formation of the bone itself. As, also, in the same way, if we seriously graze our shins, and scrape off this covering, the bone exposed is very apt to die, so in the Deer any mishap to the “velvet” injures the growth of the antler in the part affected. The animals, therefore, during the time they are “in velvet” are more than usually careful to protect their cranial appendages, and are inoffensive even to strangers.

When their antler-growth has ceased their natures change. The “velvet” has performed its function and dries into a parchment-looking membrane, to get rid of which the Deer adopt a very simple method. They rub their antlers against any neighbouring trees, and force them into the soft earth until there is none left, and the bare bone, with scarcely any trace of hollow in the middle of it, is completely exposed. Now, in the glory of their full equipment, they go in search of others of their kind, having previously maintained a comparative solitude. They try their strength by butting at imaginary enemies, and choose their wives, unless prevented by others of their species mightier than themselves, with whom, if fairly matched, they enter into the most formidable contests, to win or to be driven from the herd with ignominy. During these contests the sound of their battering antlers may be heard for considerable distances, whilst now and then, by accident, they interlock themselves inextricably, and perish both, as is attested by skulls so found, and to be seen in more than one museum.

Looking upon the Deer generally, we find them inhabiting many parts of the world--Europe, Asia, and America. In Africa none occur south of the Sahara, they being there replaced by members of the Bovine section of the order. None are found in Australia, and in America they are far less common than in Great Britain. To understand the peculiar features and the distribution of the various species, it is necessary to classify them in groups of kindred genera, most falling into sections which are distinguishable without difficulty.

In arranging the different members of the Deer-tribe for description, there are peculiarities in their outward conformation which agree with those internal differences upon which all correct notions of relationship alone can be established. In classifying animals, naturalists must always be guided by the totality of the structure of each member of each group; but, as in describing them to those who have not made the minute details of their organisation their special study it is impossible to lay stress on all the various parts which have to be included by the student in arriving at the desired result, those outward features only can be mentioned which are found to tally with their total structure, namely, their osteology, their visceral anatomy, and their muscular arrangement. As an example of the relative importance of different external structures, we may mention that the late Dr. J. E. Gray, in his Catalogue of the Ruminant Mammalia in the British Museum, gives the following arrangement of the genera, in which the length of the tail suggests one distribution of them, whilst the shape of the antlers is in favour of another, which is very different:--

1.--_Tail very short 2.--_Tail elongate, with or clubbed._ longer hair at the end._

Antlers { Mantchurian Deer. Red Deer and its near allies. elaphine { Japanese Deer. { Fallow Deer. Eld’s Deer. } Barasingha Deer. } Antlers { Hog Deer. Schomburgk’s Deer. } rusine { Spotted Axis. Sambur and its near allies. }

Roebuck. } Antlers Chinese Elaphure. } capreoline.

This table is useful as a means of comparing the tails of the different genera; but other points of structure do not in the least support the classification suggested by that appendage, as a result of which it has to be ignored in the consideration of distant affinities, although, where questions of specific proximity are concerned, it is found to be of considerable value.

The antlers render much more trustworthy information in the determination and expression of relationships; and their characterising features can be most readily grasped by having an ideal type in the mind wherewith to compare all aberrant and complicated specimens. This ideal type may be derived in one or other of two ways. The first of these is from the study of the antlers as they are each year developed in any given kind of Deer, commencing with its earliest age. For example, in the Common Red Deer: in the spring of the year following its birth the antlers are nothing more than straight, conical, and unbranched “beams,” the animal being then known as a “Brocket.” In the following spring the antler has, besides the “beam,” a small branch from its base, directed forwards, known as the “brow antler;” it is then termed “Spayad.” In the third year an extra front branch is formed, known as the “tres,” and the whole antler is larger. This “tres” is sometimes seen in the smaller antler of the Spayad. In the fourth year the brow-antler is doubled, to form the “brow” and “bez-tyne,” at the same time that the top of the main beam divides into the “sur-royals” of the “Staggard,” or four-year male. In the fifth year the sur-royals become more numerous, the whole antler of the “Stag” being heavier than previously, only to be exceeded in weight by those of the fully adult “Great Hart,” with ten or more “points,” each being larger and longer than the year before. In Great Britain the conditions of life and the food are not of the quality which develops first-rate antlers, at the same time that it is--in Scotland, at least--the habit to shoot those with the finest heads, and so leave the indifferent specimens to perpetuate their species. In some of the ancient forests of Germany superb heads of the Red Deer are to be obtained, whilst in several of the old castles of that country antler trophies are preserved as memorials of sport in times gone by, with as many as six-and-sixty points. Lord Powerscourt has in his possession a pair with five-and-forty tynes.

The second way is from the study of the antlers of the species in which they are simple, in comparison with those in which they are particularly complex, both methods as they ought to do, leading to the same result. There are Deer--as, for example, the American Brockets, David’s Deer, and Reeves’ Muntjac--in which the antler is never more than a simple dag, like that of the “Brocket” stage in the Red Deer. There are others with never more than a single tyne besides the beam, as instances of which may be mentioned the Indian Muntjac and the Huamel. Others, again--and these form an important section of the family--are triply branched, as in the Spayad, the beam bifurcating some distance above the brow-antler. As instances of these we find the Sambur Deer of India, with its large and thus simple antlers; the closely-allied Javan and Swinhoe’s Deer; the Spotted Axis; the Hog Deer, and the Roebuck.

We have now arrived at the stage in which the beam has bifurcated, and almost all the more elaborate forms result from an excess in the development of both, or one or other, of the limbs of this bifurcation. In the Deer known as Elaphine--because they more or less resemble the Red Deer (_Cervus elaphus_)--the front of these two branches (the “tres”) does not increase or become complicated, whilst from the much-enlarged hind one the numerous sur-royals spring in the biggest species, such as the Wapiti, Cashmere, Red, and Barbary Deer, as well as the Maral, of Persia. In the smaller species which follow this type of structure the sur-royals are less developed, at the same time that the brow-antler does not split in two to form a “bez” as well, examples of which are to be seen in the Mantchurian, Formosan, and Japanese Deer, as well as in the Fallow Deer and its newly-discovered ally from Mesopotamia. These two last-named differ also in the “palmation” of their antlers--a peculiarity referred to further in the special description of the species.

The accompanying outline diagram represents the most important types of antlers, to one or other of which those of almost every known Deer can be referred. To facilitate future description, they may be named as follows:--

Fig. 1.--Rusine type. 2.--Normal Rucervine type. 3.--Intermediate Rucervine type. 4.--Extreme Rucervine type. 5.--Sub-elaphine type. 6.--Elaphine type.

(A) Brow-tyne. (B) Tres-tyne. (C) Royal-tyne.

The Rusine type (1), in which the brow-tyne (A) is simple, at the same time that the beam ends in a simple bifurcation, is found in the Sambur Deer (_Rusa Aristotelis_) of India. The Rucervine type, in which the bifurcate beam is further subdivided, tends to be prolonged in the direction of the tres-tyne (B), at the same time that there is a corresponding reduction of the royal (C). In Schomburgk’s Deer (_Rucervus Schomburgki_) of Siam, both branches of the beam are equally developed (2); in the Swamp Deer (_Rucervus Duvaucelli_) of India (3), the tres (B) is larger than the royal (C); whilst in Eld’s Deer (_Rucervus Eldi_) (4), of Burmah, there is but a small snag (C) at the back of the enormous tres-tyne (B) to represent the royal. The Red Deer (_Cervus elaphus_) (6), besides having the brow-tyne (A) re-duplicated, has the royal (C) developed at the expense of the tres (B), and much divided up in well-grown animals. In the Japanese Deer (_Cervus sika_) (5) and its allies the relative proportions of the tynes are much the same, although the brow-tyne (A) is simple.

THE ELK, OR MOOSE DEER.[29]

The Elk, the largest of the family of the _Cervidæ_, is found in North America, Northern Europe, and the coldest parts of Asia, thinly scattered in all but the first-named locality. At the shoulder it may attain so great a height as eight feet when adult. The female is antler-less. In the male these appendages possess quite a peculiar shape, the two together forming a kind of basin, on account of their being developed into huge palmated concave sheets of bony tissue, which diverge laterally from the skull.

At nine months old the antlers first appear, not being more than straight and rounded dags in the first year. They reach their full length in the fifth year, from which period for many more years they increase in breadth and weight, and add, it is said, a fresh point to their palmated margins until the fourteenth, when the creature is considered quite adult.

The colour of the animal is a deep blackish-brown; the neck is short and thick, with a peculiar bob-shaped, pendulous, and hair-covered lap of skin hanging down from its middle, just behind the angles of the jaw. The limbs, especially the front ones, are long; the tail is rudimentary. The coat is formed of close-set harsh angular hair, which breaks when bent, produced into a mane upon the neck and shoulders. Sir John Richardson gives the following account of the habits and food of the Elk, with the mode of hunting it:--“In the more northern parts the Moose Deer is quite a solitary animal, more than one being very seldom seen at a time, unless during the rutting season or when the female is accompanied by her fawns. It has the sense of hearing in very great perfection, and is the most shy and wary of all the Deer species, and on this account the art of Moose-hunting is looked upon as the greatest of an Indian’s acquirements, particularly by the Crees, who take to themselves the credit of being able to instruct the hunters of every other tribe. The skill of a Moose hunter is most tried in the early part of the winter; for during the summer the Moose, as well as other animals, are so much tormented by Mosquitoes that they become regardless of the approach of man. In the winter the hunter tracks the Moose by its footmarks in the snow, and it is necessary that he should keep constantly to leeward of the chase, and make his advance with the utmost caution, for the rustling of a withered leaf or the cracking of a rotten twig is sufficient to alarm the watchful beast. The difficulty of approach is increased by a habit which the Moose Deer has of making daily a sharp turn in its route, and choosing a place of repose so near some part of its path that it can hear the least noise made by one that attempts to track it. To avoid this, the judicious hunter, instead of walking in the animal’s footsteps, forms his judgment from the appearance of the country of the direction it is likely to have taken, and makes a circuit to leeward until he again finds the track. This manœuvre is repeated until he discovers by the softness of the snow, in the footmarks and other signs, that he is very near the chase. He then disencumbers himself of everything that might embarrass his motions, and makes his approach in the most cautious manner. If he gets close to the animal’s lair without being seen, it is usual for him to break a small twig, which, alarming the Moose, it instantly starts up, but not fully aware of the danger, squats on its hams and waits a minute before setting off. In this posture it presents the fairest mark, and the hunter’s shot seldom fails to take effect in a mortal part. In the rutting season the bucks lay aside their timidity, and attack every animal that comes in their way, and even conquer their fear of man himself. The hunter then brings them within gunshot by scraping on the blade-bone of a Deer, and by whistling, which, deceiving the male, he blindly hastens to the spot to assail his supposed rival. If the hunter fails in giving it a mortal wound as it approaches, he shelters himself from its fury behind a tree, and I have heard of several instances in which the enraged animal has completely stripped the bark from the trunk of a large tree by striking with its fore-feet. In the spring time, when the snow is very deep, the hunters frequently run down the Moose on snow-shoes, which give them immense advantage, because the slender legs of the animal sink into the snow for their whole length each step they take, which makes their progress very slow.”

The usual pace of the Moose is a high shambling trot, and its strides are immense. On account of their necks being short at the same time that their legs are long, they browse upon the bushes rather than on the ground, which they find difficulty in reaching with their mouths.

THE ELAPHINE DEER.[30]

This group is characterised by the presence of a bez-tyne in all its members--except that under the influence of protracted bad nutrition individuals resident in barren parts may lose it--whilst the tres-tyne is small, and the third main branch of the antler splits up into several snags, sometimes arranged in the form of a cup. The deep brown coat is varied by a conspicuous light, almost white patch upon the rump, in which the uncovered rudiment of a tail is included. All the species are large, the best known to us being

THE RED DEER.[31]

This species is a native of the British Isles and many parts of Europe. Northern specimens are much the smaller, and carry far inferior antlers, those of South Germany and Hungary possessing heads worthy, of the species. In England they are still to be found wild in Exmoor Forest, in Scotland north of the Forth and Clyde; and in Ireland about Killarney, Connemara, and Erris.

A well-grown Stag stands over four feet at the withers, with a thickly-coated neck of a greyish tint, a rich red-brown body-colour, uniformly curved symmetrical antlers, and head held high. The Stag in summer is a lordly creature. In winter its coat is longer and of a greyer tint. As is the case in allied species, and all but a few of the Rusine Deer, the new-born calves are brilliantly spotted with white.

The pairing season occupies the early part of October. The calves are born at the end of May or the beginning of June; whilst the Stags drop their antlers between the end of February and the earlier days of April, the youngest latest. Up till the age of twelve the animal continues to increase in bulk and strength, and it is highly probable that they do not ever much outlive twenty years, although superstition credits them with very many more.

It is towards the end of August or the beginning of September that the well-nourished Stags, having already cleared their antlers of their “velvet,” leave their retirement, and with swollen necks as well as restless mien, seek out the hinds. During the rutting season, which lasts about three weeks, they eat but little, and lose weight rapidly, to be regained in the subsequent repose upon the summer-developed foliage. In the southern counties of Great Britain the hunting of the Stag has degenerated into the repeated chase of a few individuals, deprived of their antlers, and let out of boxes shortly before the sportsmen put in an appearance; whilst long-ranged rifles have reduced the difficulties of what not many years ago--more especially in Scotland--was a form of sport which very severely taxed the physical capacities of the most determined and courageous.

The WAPITI, the PERSIAN, the CASHMERIAN, and the BARBARY DEER resemble the Red Deer in almost every detail except size, the first and second being considerably larger. Their antlers all branch in the same manner, except that the proportionate sizes of some of the snags are apt to vary. Superb heads of Wapiti are numerous in Great Britain, with their brown beams and white burnished tips.

The Wapiti is kept in confinement without difficulty, although in autumn the stags become savage. Its home is the woodlands and the mountains of North America, where it is generally incorrectly called the “Elk.” Stalking the species is a common sport, but there is not so much interest associated with it as with Moose-stalking, because it is a more stupid creature, and its senses are less acutely developed. When started, a herd will make off for a short distance, and stop to recognise the source of danger before continuing its flight. Its food is mostly leaves of trees and shrubs, though it frequently eats grass and weeds. Dr. J. D. Caton, of Ottawa, Illinois, who has had much experience in the preserving of American Deer, has published many interesting details with regard to this species. Among others he mentions, with reference to the young, that “the most prominent instinct of the young fawn is that of deception. I have several times come across fawns evidently but a few hours old, left by the mother in supposed security. They affect death to perfection, only they forget to shut their eyes. They lie without a motion, and if you pick them up they are as limp as a wet rag, the head and limbs hanging down without the least muscular action, the bright eye fairly sparkling all the time.” The venison is excellent; it is said to be more nutritious than any other meat.

The Persian Deer, or Marāl, differs from the Cashmerian Deer but little. Its head, however, is longer and more pointed.

The Cashmerian Deer, or Barasingha, again, is hardly distinguishable from the Wapiti. Professor Leith Adams remarks, with reference to it, that “the Cashmere forests seem the head-quarters of this species on the western ranges, for it is seldom, if ever, met with between Mussouree and the Vale of Cashmere. The dense forests and fertile valleys of the latter country are particularly inviting to this species. In habits and general appearance the Cashmere Stag bears a striking resemblance to the Red Deer. Although it is seldom, nowadays, that individuals of the latter species escape the hunter so long as to attain the size and magnitude of the Barasingha [twelve points], yet I think it will be found that the horns of those killed in the forests of Scotland in former years are equal in size to any at present met with in Cashmere. It is in the dense pine forests on the Northern Pinjal, and in the many beautiful valleys among these ranges, that we find the species most abundant. There are very few on the southern ranges. In the secluded depths of these solitudes they lie all day, to issue forth at dusk and feed on the grassy hill-sides, or descend even into the Valley of Cashmere when forced by the snows of winter. An adult Stag averages thirteen hands in height. The colour of the coat varies but little in the sexes or the seasons of the year; dark liver-colour, with reddish patches on the inner sides of the hips; belly and lower parts white, or a dirty white. The male has the hair on the lower part of the neck long and shaggy (wanting in the female); the horns large, and usually very massive, with from ten to fifteen or more points, according to age (the largest pair of horns I have measured were four feet round the curves, with six and seven points). They are shed in March; and the new horn is not completely formed until the end of October, when the rutting season commences, and the loud bellowings of the Stags are heard all over the mountains. During vigorous winters they are frequently driven to seek for shelter and food around the villages in the valleys, when many are destroyed by natives, who hunt them with Dogs. The Cheetahs, Wild Dogs, and Bears are said to kill the young.”

The very similar Barbary Deer is most interesting, in that it is the only member of the Cervine group which is found in Africa.

THE SUB-ELAPHINE DEER.[32]

The JAPANESE, FORMOSAN, and MANTCHURIAN DEER are all species allied to those just described, but differing in being smaller in size, at the same time that the antlers conform to the sub-elaphine type, in which the bez-tyne is never present, and the sur-royals are but inconsiderably branched. They are all strongly spotted in their summer dress, which, especially in the Mantchurian--the largest of the species--is most brilliant. In the winter their coats are nearly uniform, and of a dark brown colour. A fawn-red is the groundwork of the summer coat, the spots being yellowish-white, whilst a black streak, in perfect contrast, runs the whole length of the middle of the back, continuing down the tail and expanding slightly at its base. The throat is white. The sombre winter coat is a nearly uniform dark red-brown.

The FALLOW DEER (_Dama vulgaris_), so well known on account of its being preserved in a semi-domesticated state in so many English parks, has antlers constructed upon the same plan as those of the Mantchurian Deer (sub-elaphine). These, however, present special peculiarities found in none of the allied species, for they are palmated in their upper parts, in the region of the sur-royals, the digitations or terminal points being developed along the convex posterior margins of the palmated surface. The buck is about three feet high at the shoulder. The head is short and broad, the tail between seven and eight inches long. The colour of the wild animal, both buck and doe, is a rich yellowish-brown in summer, spotted with white all over. In winter the tints are more sombre and greyish. Domestic varieties vary immensely, both in the distinctness of the spotting and the general colouration. Until six years of age the buck receives a separate name each year from sportsmen--fawn, pricket, sorrel, soare, buck of the first lead, and buck complete, being the terms employed--the antlers not being developed at all in the fawn, being simple snags in the pricket, with two front branches in the sorrel, with slight palmation of the extremity of the beam in the soare, and the whole antler larger and larger until the sixth year. The venison of the Fallow Deer is fatter than that of the Red Deer, and is preferred by most.

The species is not a native of Britain, having most certainly been introduced, although exactly when is not known. The dark-coloured and more hardy breed was brought from Norway by James I. Its true wild habitat was probably the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, both north and south.

The PERSIAN FALLOW DEER,[33] so closely related to the species just referred to that they breed together, was made known to us in 1875 by Sir Victor Brooke, who described it from specimens sent to England by Mr. Robertson, the British Vice-Consul at Busrah. It resembles the Common Fallow Deer in almost every detail, except that it is slightly larger, and that the antlers are not the same. As stated above, in the Common Fallow Deer the antlers, whilst developed on the sub-elaphine type, are palmated in the region of the royals, with several snags projecting from the upper margin, at the same time that the lower portion of the beam, the tres, and the brow-tynes are cylindrical, as usually is the case in other species.

In the Persian Fallow the palmation at the extremity of the antlers is much less conspicuous, and scarcely exists, although many snags are present there, directed upwards. The palmation is at the bases of the antlers instead, including the brow-tyne and the beam, so that the general appearance of the antlers is quite peculiar to the species.

THE RUSINE DEER.[34]

The SAMBUR, OR GEROW (_Rusa Aristotelis_), of India, is found abundantly in all the hill-districts of that country. It is nearly five feet high, of a deep brown colour, with the hair of the neck developed almost into a mane. The tail is of fair length. Its build is massive, as are its antlers, which present three powerful points, and reach over three feet in length. Above the considerable brow-tyne the beam bifurcates high up into two fairly equal snags, and no more in well-grown antlers. The hind is much less massive, and of a yellowish tint. Captain Kinloch says of the species that “Sambur delight in stony hills, where there is plenty of cover, and where they can have easy access to water. They browse more than graze, and are nearly nocturnal in their habits. During the daytime they seek the most shady retreats, and old Stags especially are most difficult to find, frequently betaking themselves to almost inaccessible places, where the uninitiated would never dream of looking for them. The experienced hunter, indeed, has frequently to depend more upon fortune than his own knowledge of woodcraft.” In Java an almost identical species differs mostly in having the hinder of the two branches of the beam of the antler longer than the one in front. Swinhoe’s Deer from Formosa is also almost indistinguishable, at the same time that Sumatran and Bornean specimens agree with it in being particularly dark in colour.

Three smaller species, with antlers branched in exactly the same manner, are found in the islands of Borneo, Timor, Ternate, and the Philippines.

The HOG DEER of India and Ceylon is not bigger than the Roebuck although the legs are shorter and the body heavier. Its antlers consist of a brow-tyne and bifurcate beam, of which the posterior tyne is short, and turned inwards; they rarely exceed a foot and a half in length. It is of a uniform dark brown colour, rarely spotted indistinctly with white. Their name is derived from the pig-like way in which they run, with their heads low, when pursued.

The SPOTTED HOG DEER is a rare species, of a slightly lighter colour, and with pale yellow spots.

The AXIS DEER of India, sometimes called the Cheetal, resembles the Fallow Deer in size and colouration most closely, although its antlers serve to show that its true relations are quite different. These latter are not palmated at all, and are quite rusine in type, presenting the three points characteristic of them, the front tyne of the bifurcate beam being of great length. There is a beauty in the intensity of the spotting of the coat of this species which is unequalled by any other member of the Cervidæ, and it is interesting to know that according to the universal testimony of sportsmen, the effect of sunlight through foliage so much resembles it that it is almost impossible to recognise the animal in the woods. They have a reputation for being indolent, as they feed during the night, and sleep throughout the day, frequenting the heavy grass jungles along the banks of rivers. Their cry is a shrill bark at the approach of danger. The accompanying figure (see Plate 26), drawn from a specimen in captivity, gives an excellent idea of the immense length attained by the antlers, which in this particular case are blunt-tipped, because not quite fully grown. The hinder tyne on the right side, it will be noticed, is almost entirely hidden in the hair of the flank.

PRINCE ALFRED’S DEER,[35] about the size of the Fallow Deer, was first described by Dr. Sclater from a specimen brought from the Philippine Islands by the Duke of Edinburgh in 1870. Its glossy coat is of a rich chocolate colour, covered with pale yellow spots; a broad line along the back, as in all spotted Deer, being uninterrupted; the under parts are of a pale yellow. The antlers are only nine inches in length, but comparatively thick, and simply branched upon the rusine type, with three points. The legs are rather short, at the same time that the body is heavy.

The SWAMP DEER.[36] The name Barasingha, signifying “twelve points,” is applied to two very different species of Indian Deer, the Cashmerian Deer, previously mentioned, and the Swamp Deer.

The Swamp Deer of India and Assam is slightly smaller than the Sambur, not exceeding four feet in height. Its colour is a rich light yellow. As its name signifies it delights in moist situations, where it congregates in herds of great numbers. Its antlers are large, and of the intermediate rucervine type. The brow-tynes reach a foot in length, and are directed forwards with an upward turn at their tips. The beam is long, and branches into an anterior, massive, and branched continuation of itself, as well as a posterior smaller bifurcate tyne.

In Siam this species is replaced by the closely-allied SCHOMBURGK’S DEER, a little-known species, in which the antlers are extremely elegant, the long brow-tyne being followed by a short beam which bifurcates into two equal branches, these again, each of them, bifurcating in a similar manner.

ELD’S DEER, OR THE THAMYN.[37] This Deer, which differs from the Swamp Deer only in its antlers, was discovered by Captain Eld, in 1838. It abounds in the swamp lands of Burmah, and extends as far east as the Island of Hainan. Its form is slimmer than that of the Red Deer, at the same time that it is somewhat smaller, attaining a height of over four feet. During the summer months its body-colour is a light rufous brown, with a few faint indications of white spots. Its under parts are nearly white, as are the insides of the hairy ears. Its tail is short, and black above. In winter its lengthy hair takes on a darker tint.

Lieutenant R. C. Beavan has given an excellent account of the habits of Eld’s Deer, from which we learn that their food must consist almost entirely of grass and paddy, which grow both cultivated and wild, in the swamps in which they dwell. “In habits they are very wary and difficult of approach, especially the males. They are also very timid, and easily startled; the males, however, when wounded and brought to bay with Dogs, get very savage and charge vigorously. On being disturbed they invariably make for the open, instead of resorting to the heavy jungle like Hog Deer and Sambur. In fact the Thamyn is essentially a plain-loving species; and, although it will frequent tolerably open tree-jungle for the sake of its shade, it will never venture into dense or matted underwood.... When first started the pace of the Thamyn is great. It commences by giving three or four large bounds like the Axis or Spotted Deer, and afterwards settles down into a long trot, which it will keep up for six or seven miles on end when frequently disturbed.” As to the means employed to hunt them, the same author informs us that “a large number of men would assemble from the neighbouring villages, and gradually encircle three or four moderate-sized herds with long strings, upon which plantain-leaves were tied so as to flutter in the wind. The circle, originally formed at some distance, was gradually lessened as the Deer, afraid to pass the scarecrows, got gradually driven together, until they were completely surrounded and at the mercy of the hunters. The object was to get them into a corner near the heavy jungle, into which, if they attempted to run, they either became entangled, or allowed their pursuers to get up quite close. As many as a hundred and fifty to two hundred, my informant tells me, he has himself seen killed in one battue in former years. To such a length was this [shameful] system carried, and such enormous havoc was thereby created, that the Burmese Government, fearing the species would be utterly exterminated, wisely put a stop to the practice.”