Game Animals of India, etc. 



which it would be difficult, if not impossible to find at 

 the present day, when comparatively few stags are 

 allowed to attain the age necessary for the full develop- 

 ment of these splendid appendages. 



The sambar, in common with a number of more or 

 less closely allied species inhabiting the Oriental, or 

 Indian, region, differs so markedly, not only in the 

 form of its antlers, but in many details of structure and 

 colouring, from the members of the red-deer group, 

 that it may be taken as the type of a second group, for 

 which the name rusine deer (from the Malay name for 

 deer) is a convenient designation. With the exception 

 of a small species supposed to be from the Philippines, 

 and described as C. tavistocki, the rusine deer are 

 characterised by the relatively simple antlers, which are 

 cylindrical, and have usually only three tines, owing to 

 the absence of both the bez and the trez ; each antler, 

 after giving off a brow-tine immediately above the burr, 

 or coronet, consisting of a beam terminating in a simple 

 fork. Although the coat of the adult may be either 

 uniformly coloured or spotted at all times of the year, 

 it never has the large light-coloured rump-patch of 

 the red-deer group, nor does it exhibit that marked 

 difference in colour according to season which is so 

 striking in most members of that group. Several 

 species (like the sambar) have the throat and neck 

 more or less heavily maned ; and in most cases the 

 ears are large and the tail comparatively long. 



The Indian sambar (the typical representative of a 

 widely spread species with many local races, whose full 

 title is Cervus imicolor typicus) is a large and somewhat 

 heavily built deer, attaining a height of at least 5 feet 

 4 inches at the withers, and characterised by its long 

 and almost uniformly dark-coloured coat, heavily maned 

 throat and neck, large spreading ears, evertible face- 

 glands, and thick bushy tail. The long and massive 

 antlers have a peculiarly rugged exterior, and the two 

 tines of the terminal fork are usually approximately 



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