24 MOSTLY MAMMALS 



the primitive spotted coloration of the chital for a dull 

 brown and shaggy coat are proclaimed to be essentially 

 animals of the thick forest by the large size of their ears, 

 although this characteristic is more strongly marked in the 

 larger than in the smaller races of the group. Dr. Blanford's 

 account of the habits of the Indian sambar runs as follows: — 



"This is the woodland deer of South-Eastern Asia 

 generally, and is more widely and generally distributed 

 than any other species. ... It comes out on the grass 

 slopes when such exist, as in the Nilgiris and other hill- 

 ranges, to graze, but always takes refuge in the woods. 

 It is but rarely found associating in any numbers ; both 

 stags and hinds are often found singly, but small herds 

 of four or five to a dozen in number are commonly met 

 with. Its habits are nocturnal ; it may be seen feeding 

 in the morning and evening, but it grazes chiefly at night, 

 and at that time often visits small patches of cultivation 

 in the half-cleared tracts, returning for the day to wilder 

 parts, and often ascending hills to make a lair in grass 

 amongst trees, where it generally selects a spot well shaded 

 from the sun's rays." 



Contrasting this with the account given above of the 

 mode of life of the chital, the reason of the colour of 

 the sambar will be apparent. It is essentially a deer of 

 the thickets, nocturnal and more or less solitary in habits, 

 and shunning the sunlit glades. Hence not only is the 

 coat uniformly dusky brown, but the white " recognition 

 marks " on the rump, so useful in the case of the fallow- 

 deer and the sikas, are entirely wanting. 



As regards the change from a grey fawn-colour in summer 

 to a foxy red in winter exhibited by many kinds of deer 

 — most markedly by the American white-tail and the 

 European roe, and, in a somewhat less degree, by the 



