SPORT IN WESTERN CHINA 171 



Neither sex has horns% and the long tusks and musk-gland 

 distinguish the male from the female. The hair is hollow, very 

 coarse and loose, and readily pulls away. The flesh is excellent 

 eating (equal to the best Muntjac), and the heads make pretty 

 trophies. The Chiala chieftain keeps some of these animals 

 in an enclosure at Tachienlu. They appeared, when Zappey 

 and I saw them, to be very happy and contented, and we were 

 informed that they bred under captivity. Certainly they 

 make most charming pets with their shapel3^ face and head. 



For a small animal, Musk Deer is of stout and rather 

 heavy build ; the hind-limbs are longer than the front ones, 

 raising the rump above the level of the fore-quarters, giving 

 the animal a hunched-up appearance. 



The type-locality of M. sifanicus is the province of Kansu, 

 and quite likely the Musk Deer found west of Tachienlu 

 represent a local race. Perhaps it should be identified with 

 the Himalayan M. moschiferus. 



RIVER DEER, " CHEE-TSZE " 



It is customary to write disparagingly of this interesting 

 little animal {Hydrclaphus inermis), both as to the sport it 

 affords and its value for the table. This attitude may be 

 attributed to " familiarity breeding contempt." For the table 

 there are kinds of venison which are certainly superior, but 

 it is wholesome, palatable, and very much superior to the beef 

 obtainable in most of the riverine ports of China. Properly 

 kept and properly cooked, there are many worse things than a 

 cutlet of this much-abused River Deer. 



Formerly this animal was extraordinarily abundant 

 throughout the fluviatile regions of the Lower Yangtsze basin, 

 and it is stiU very common in many places. It is hunted 

 mercilessly by the Chinese, and several thousands are sold 

 annually in the markets from Shasi down river to Shanghai 

 and elsewhere. The low hills which commence some 30 miles 

 east of Ichang mark the western boundary of this animal as 

 they do of the Ring-neck Pheasant. Its home is the great 

 alluvial plain of the Yangtsze, which extends from the point 

 mentioned above, eastwards 1000 miles to the sea. Any 



