GAME. THE SAMBUR. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE SOUTH OF INDIA OBSERVER. 



" I fear, Mr. Editor, that I have promised more than I can 

 " satisfactorily perform, either to your readers or myself. I will, 

 " however, do my best, and if I fail it will not be from want of 

 " interest or inclination to deal with the subject ; but from a want 

 " of ideas and expressions to communicate to others the feelings 

 " that render all connected with game and sport so intensely 

 " attractive to myself. 



" Well then, now for the Sambur : but I must premise that it 

 " be understood my description of the animal and its habits is to 

 " be taken as that of a sportsman, not of a naturalist. The sambur, 

 " we are told by Jerdon, is the Rusa stag ; similar to the animal 

 " in Bengal, there called the Jerow. He stands, when in his prime, 

 " generally about 14 hands high ; some have been killed exceeding 

 " this, but not often. Of all I have ever measured, none did so. 

 " He has usually a handsome head, adorned with well-shaped 

 " antlers. In Central India, I am told, these stags run very large, 

 " with antlers, some 44 inches in length. Good heads on these 

 " hills rarely exceed 38 or 40 inches. His neck is thick and mas- 

 " sive, with an incipient mane, giving him, as he stands " scenting 

 " the tainted gale" on the mountain side, a most noble appearance 

 " indeed, fully entitling him to be designated as " the antlered 

 " monarch of the woods." It is difficult to convey the sensation 

 " such a sight raises in the breast of the sportsman, be he old or 

 " young. The gratification at beholding the noble quarry he is 

 " seeking ; the eagerness to gain the trophy the stag carries aloft 

 " so proudly ; the agitating nervous feeling that he may by some 

 "mischance escape; all this, and much more, stirs the blood, 

 " making it course through the veins with a sensation almost too 

 " painful to bear. Such were my feelings when first I encountered 

 " this noble stag ; and yet, how oft-repeated since ! renewed as it 

 " were each time, and never failing to produce the same effect. Old 

 " warriors, they say, get accustomed to war, and heed " the winged 

 " messengers of death" as nought ; after a while becoming calm and 



