Game Animals of India, etc. 



white -tailed deer, and the roes, the latter being 

 remarkable for the circumstance that the white rump- 

 patch, which forms so conspicuous a feature in so many 

 of the tribe, is generally developed only in the grey 

 winter coat. This white rump-patch is apparently for 

 the purpose of facilitating recognition of the direction 

 taken by the members of the herd when in flight. 

 Other aids to recognition are afforded by the glands 

 with which deer are so abundantly provided. Most 

 deer have a pair of glands on the face below the eyes, 

 while in the muntjac there is also a pair of frontal glands 

 on the forehead. In addition to those on the face, the 

 majority also have glands situated between the main 

 hoofs, while there may likewise be either one or two 

 glands on each hind -leg, the position of which is 

 indicated by a tuft of hair differing in length and 

 frequently also in colour from that clothing the rest of 

 the limb. The most common of these glands is 

 situated on the outer surface of the hind-leg some 

 distance above the foot, and is known as the metatarsal 

 gland. Less common is the tarsal gland, situated 

 on the inner surface of the hock, or tarsus. 



Stags are subject to outbursts of sexual excitement 

 during the pairing-season, when they lose their timid 

 and retiring habits, and become some of the most 

 vicious and dangerous of all animals, especially in 

 captivity. During this period of excitement the males 

 of the larger kinds utter a peculiar call or roar, intended 

 as a challenge to their rivals for the mastery of the herd. 



In the typical genus Cervus, of which the hangul is 

 a member, the antlers of the stags are large and complex, 

 rising at an acute angle to the middle line of the fore- 

 head, projecting at first from the plane of the latter, 

 and then continued upwards nearly in that plane. 

 They are supported on comparatively short, permanent, 

 and skin -covered pedicles (longer in young than in 

 adult animals), and are furnished with a brow-tine, 

 while they are never regularly forked at their first 



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