i64 A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



days west of Tachienlu, I got a fleeting view of two or three of 

 these Deer, but being taken by surprise I noted nothing beyond 

 their size and general colour. The antlers here figured I 

 purchased in Sungpan in 1903. They weighed ii|^ catties, 

 and were fresh from an animal killed a few days previously 

 only a few miles west of that town. Unfortunately, I lost 

 them, with other trophies, through a fire in 1909. 



WHITE DEER, PEH LU-TSZE 



The first specimen of this Deer was shot by Captain M'Neill 

 west of Tachienlu, in 1908, and it proved to be a new race. It 

 is described and figured under the name of C. cashmirianus 

 macneilli, by Mr. R. Lydekker, in Proceedings of the Zoological 

 Society of London, published October 1909. M'Neill kindly 

 informs me that in height and size this animal approximates 

 to the American Wapiti. The colour is creamy whitish-grey, 

 but some are darker than others. He shot two hinds, but 

 was unable to get a stag. He saw some, however, but none 

 with horns more than 18 to 20 inches in length. 



Mr. Lydekker (loc. cit.) describes this Deer as " allied 

 to C. cashmirianus, but much paler and more profusely 

 speckled, the general colour being grey-fawn, becoming whitish- 

 fawn on the throat and limbs, and the speckling as fully marked 

 on the neck and flanks as on the back. No white on the chin ; 

 but the whole of the under-parts dirty- white, instead of merely 

 the abdomen. Dark dorsal line stopping short about the midde 

 of the back." In the absence of male specimens Lydekker 

 regards the systematic position of this animal as tentative. 

 Geographically this new race is very far removed from the most 

 eastern known haunt of the " Kashmir Stag," and time will 

 probably prove it to be a distinct species. 



When examining, near Mao Chou,some loads of shed antlers, 

 M'Neill pointed out to me several which he thought were those 

 of Thorold's Deer. I strongly suspect they belonged to the 

 race which now bears his name. Under its native name of 

 Peh Lu-tsze I have heard this animal spoken of as far north 

 as Sungpan, and very likely it ranges throughout the whole 

 Chino-Thibetan borderland. The type-specimen of this new 



