The Hangul, or Kashmir Stag 



the eastern end of the vale the deer appear to migrate 

 much less than do those at its western extremity, 

 finding; a suitable summer climate at the sources of 

 the tributary valleys, or nalas ; their favourite summer 

 resorts being the birch-forests, which grow immediately 

 above the pine-zone. 



Towards the end of September, when the antlers of 

 the stags are clean, hangul descend from the birch- 

 forests, and the old stags commence to call. Formerly 

 they are stated to have called throughout the day, 

 but now do so only in the mornings and evenings, 

 commencing late in the afternoon. During the pairing- 

 season the old stags frequently show themselves in the 

 open glades with their harems of hinds, and are then 

 easy to approach. They wander frequently from one 

 patch of forest to another, so that a spot abounding in 

 deer one week may be deserted the next. By the 

 latter part of October the calling generally ceases, and 

 the stags become less bold, and are consequently more 

 difficult to discover. When, however, they are driven 

 down by the winter snows into the open ground 

 of the vale of Kashmir, they are once more easily 

 approached, and in former times numbers were 

 ruthlessly slaughtered by the villagers when driven 

 down by the storms of winter to seek shelter at low 

 levels. The fawns are generally dropped during the 

 month of April. 



An account of hangul-stalking will be found in 

 General M'Intyre's work, The Hindu Koh. 



The Yarkand stag [Cervus yarcandensis) was at 

 one time believed to be only a race of the hangul, but 

 it is entitled to rank as a perfectly distinct species. 

 Not only do its antlers, as shown by a series of 

 specimens in the British Museum, differ markedly 

 from those of the Kashmir stag, but the coat of the 

 Yarkand stag is distinctly reddish in place of grey, 

 and has much less black on the under -parts and 

 hindquarters ; while the tail is entirely rufous instead 



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