Game Animals of India, etc. 



brown. A somewhat similar colour, which extends 

 over the whole of the rump, is displayed in one of the 

 sketches noticed above ; but in the second of these, 

 which not improbably shows the animal in its winter 

 garb, the general hue is considerably darker, and there 

 is a large light rump-patch, which includes the tail. 



The largest shou-antlers on record are the pair 

 shown in fig. t^Sj which measure ^^^ inches in length, 

 6|- in basal circumference, 17^ between the tips, and 

 a pair of similar length in the British Museum. In 

 nearly all cases at least one antler has five well-developed 

 points, but occasionally its fellow may have four, six, 

 or seven points. Considerable uncertainty has pre- 

 vailed with regard to the precise habitat of the shou. 

 Dr. Jerdon (who erroneously thought it might be 

 identical with the great stag of Siberia) stated that it 

 inhabited Eastern Tibet and the Chumbi Valley on the 

 Sikhim side of Tibet. Dr. Blanford, on the other 

 hand, wrote that " it is not found in Sikhim nor in the 

 Chumbi Valley immediately east of Sikhim, but ap- 

 parently in the next valley to the eastward, Mr. Hume 

 was assured, he tells me, that the area inhabited by 

 C. affinis is drained by streams running northward to 

 the Sangpo," From information furnished by Mr. 

 Claude White, Commissioner of Sikhim, it appears 

 that Jerdon was practically right ; the range of the 

 species, including some portion of the upper Chumbi 

 Valley and some of the adjacent valleys in Bhutan. 



In a letter to the Field of October 27, 1906, 

 Lieut.-Col. H. A. Iggulden stated that the range of 

 this deer " is certainly not restricted to the Chumbi 

 Valley and the adjacent valleys of Bhutan, though, 

 perhaps, it may be more numerous in those districts 

 than elsewhere. 



" My own observations and inquiries on this matter 

 may be of interest to naturalists, for whilst in Tibet 

 with the military expedition of 1903- 1904 I made 

 inquiries regarding this stag, and saw a considerable 



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