26 MOSTLY MAMMALS 



and is correlated with the presence of foliage on the trees 

 at the one season and its absence at the other. It may 

 be added that the white-tail and the muntjac have the 

 under-side of the tail and the inner surfaces of the buttocks 

 white, and thus display a conspicuous patch when running 

 to covert with the tail elevated. Somewhat curiously, the 

 roe generally develops a white rump-patch only when in 

 the grey winter dress. 



Although the reason for many details remains to be 

 worked out — and for this naturalists must rely on the good 

 offices of sportsmen — I venture to think that the foregoing 

 theory affords a satisfactory explanation of most of the 

 different types of coloration prevailing among the deer. 

 Probably the coloration of the chital — spotted at all seasons 

 — was the primitive type. From this was evolved the 

 seasonal change characteristic of the fallow and Peking 

 deer, and from this, again, the absence of spots at all 

 seasons distinctive of the white-tail and roe. A further 

 specialisation is displayed in the tropics by the sambar 

 in one direction and the muntjac and barasingha in the 

 other. If these conclusions be well founded, it is evident 

 that deer were originally a tropical group. It should be 

 mentioned that the Indian hog-deer, which develops spots 

 in summer, is an exception to the rule that tropical deer, 

 if spotted at all, retain their markings all the year. 



The foregoing summary of the extent of our knowledge 

 — or, rather, of the depth of our ignorance — with regard 

 to the meaning and object of the different types of colora- 

 tion prevalent among the larger mammals may, it is to be 

 hoped, direct the attention of travellers and sportsmen to 

 an extremely interesting, but much neglected, subject, and 

 thus lead to a real advance being made in the interpreta- 

 tion of the facts. 



