The Chital, or Indian Spotted Deer 



accordingly quoted, with some verbal alteration, from 

 the Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society ^ by 

 Bennett. " In both, the colour of the back and sides 

 is fawn spotted with white ; a deep brown or blackish 

 band occupies the middle line of the back ; and an 

 almost continuous white line passes along either side 

 of the belly between the limbs. But the head, which 

 in the fallow deer is of a uniform greyish brown, is 

 marked in the chital by a broad dusky spot on the 

 forehead, and a line of the same colour extending^ alone: 

 the middle of the nose. The chin and throat of the 

 chital are pure white, while in the fallow deer they are 

 of nearly the same colour with the chest and under 

 surface of the body, which are both of a greyish hue. 

 The buttocks of the fallow deer are occupied by a 

 broad white patch, separated from the fawn of the back 

 and sides by a black band ; and the tail is black above 

 and white beneath. In the chital the buttocks are of 

 the same colour with the adjacent parts, and the tail is 

 tawny above and white beneath, with a narrow blackish 

 border towards the tip." 



The chital is one of the most characteristic animals 

 of India and Ceylon, to which it is confined, and where 

 it is widely distributed. It is absent from Assam, and 

 the plains of Sind, the Punjab, and Western Rajputana, 

 which are unsuited to its mode of life. Although to a 



o 



great extent a plain-loving animal, it is found along the 

 foot-ranges of the Himalaya from the neighbourhood 

 of the Sutlej as far west as Nepal, but does not extend 

 into Sikhim ; on these outer hills it may be found as 

 high as about 3500 or 4000 feet above sea-level in a 

 few localities. It is common in the Bengal Sandarbans, 

 as indeed it is in nearly all parts of India and Ceylon 

 suitable to its habits ; and in such localities it may 

 almost be regarded as an integral component of Indian 

 jungle-scenery. 



Compared with the typical Indian race Ceylon 

 chital, although similar in general characters, differ not 



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