Game Animals of India, etc. 



THE THAMIN, OR ELD'S DEER 



{Cervus eldi) 



Native Names. — Sangnai^ or Sangrai^ Manipuri ; 

 Thamin^ or Thameng^ Burmese 



(Plate vi, fig. 8) 



The thamin, or Burmese representative of the 

 swamp-deer, was formerly placed in a genus by itself, 

 under the name of Panolia ; and is hence sometimes 

 spoken of as the " Panolia deer," Its relationship to 

 the swamp-deer was, however, gradually recognised ; 

 but it was not till the description of the above- 

 mentioned head of the latter species obtained by Major 

 Wood that the closeness of the relationship was realised. 

 It is somewhat remarkable that it was not till 1842 

 that the thamin was definitely made known to science, 

 althou2;h there is a possibility that a deer described 

 five years earlier may have belonged to this species. 



The thamin stands about 3 feet 9 inches in height 

 at the shoulder, and has a coat of coarse hair, which 

 becomes shaggy in winter, when it forms a kind of 

 mane on the throat of the stags. Thamin differ from 

 all other deer (with the exception of Major Wood's 

 specimen of the swamp-deer) by the curvature of the 

 antlers. These are cylindrical and rugose, with the 

 long and arched brow-tine forming: the continuation 

 of the curve of the beam, which is set at right angles 

 to the pedicle, so that the entire antler is approximately 

 bow-shaped. For the greater part of its length the 

 beam is undivided, having at first a backwards, then 

 an outwards, and finally a forwards curvature ; but 

 towards its termination it is simply forked, each fork 

 corresponding to the main fork in swamp-deer antlers. 

 In old animals the outer tine of the terminal fork 

 is larger and more complex than the inner one ; the 

 number of terminal points varying from as few as two 



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