Game Animals of India, etc. 



from ambush, perhaps at a few yards' distance, at an 

 unfortunate sambar, the whole process occupying a few 

 hours — this is the acme of sport to the lazy man whose 

 sole object is to shoot the game. . . . But the true 

 sportsman scorns such methods ; his pleasure is found 

 in wandering over the hills and through the torest from 

 daybreak to sunset, keeping every sense on the alert, 

 and pitting his knowledge of wild animals and jungle- 

 lore against the cunning^ of the denizens of the woods." 



The representative of the sambar met with in 

 Burma, Eastern Assam, and Kachar, differs sufficiently 

 from the typical form to be regarded as a local race, 

 although not as a distinct species. Consequently, for 

 the name of " equine deer," often applied to this race, 

 the title of Malay sambar is preferable, as serving to 

 emphasise its specific identity with the Indian animal. 



Nearly rivalling the latter in respect of size, the 

 Malay sambar (Cervus unicolor equinus, plate vi, fig. 5) 

 usually has shorter and thicker antlers, in which the 

 hind or inner tine of the terminal fork is considerably 

 inferior in length to the front or outer tine, while it 

 springs as a kind of spur from the inner margin of the 

 beam, of which the outer tine forms the direct con- 

 tinuation. The brow-tine, too, is in most instances of 

 proportionately greater length. On the average, the 

 general colour appears to be darker than in Indian 

 sambar, approaching to black or slaty grey in the old 

 stags ; there is frequently a light flesh-coloured ring 

 round each eye, and the ears are relatively smaller, and 

 often show a whitish margin. In some cases the lower 

 portion of the legs shows a tendency towards dirty 

 white, and the tail seems to be more bushy than in the 

 typical race. The fawns are foxy red in colour, with 

 the upper surface of the tail and a line down the back 

 black or blackish, and in many instances, although by 

 no means invariably, they are spotted on the hind- 

 quarters. 



Although typical antlers of this race (fig. 39) are 



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