255 



accounted for by the greater number of specimens obtained ; for 

 there are many more spotted deer to be found in the forests of the 

 south than in those north of the Kistnah river. 



It is doubtful how high spotted deer ascend above the level of 

 the sea : " Smooth Bore," a well known naturalist, whose name 

 however I do not feel at liberty to give, mentions in a letter, dated 

 8th February 1870, to the South of India Observer, so often men- 

 tioned in these notes, that, he has " heard of a spotted deer being 

 " killed on the Neliamputty Hills (a spur of the Annamallays) at 

 " about 4,000 feet elevation." 



While writing of spotted deer no excuse need be made for 

 entering the following life-like bit of word-painting by my friend 

 HAWKEYE. 



THE SPOTTED DEER. 



" I don't know why it is, or how it is, but so it is, that, somehow 

 there is a greater charm in the pursuit of the abovementioned 

 beautiful animal than of any other of the denizens of the bounie 

 brown forest or tangled jungle where it loves to dwell. I am not 

 alone in this feeling ; many sportsmen, and some who have slain the 

 mighty Behemoth, Taurus the bull, and even the feline king of the 

 forest, recall with pleasure the sport they have enjoyed after this 

 less noble and timid creature : whether it be coupled with the 

 indescribable feeling that rejoices the sportsman's heart as he 

 stealthily wanders beneath the arcades of the feathery bamboo 

 jungle, forming as they do aisles and glades, and vistas of nature's 

 lovely handiwork so enchanting to the sportsman's eye, making, as 

 it were, his very inmost soul to rejoice and be glad : or, whatever 

 the facination may be, whether of scenery or the spirit of sport 

 itself, it exists ; and none that I have met, mighty hunters though 

 they be, have ever been ashamed to own the soft impeachment. 

 What then is the attraction that has so often led me and others 

 to follow with such keenness and ardour the chase of the " Dappled 

 Darlings ?" Handsome and beautiful as the buck Axis really is, he 

 cannot be compared to that noble stag, the Sambur ; glossy and 

 bright though his spotted hide may be, he is wanting in that stamp 

 of nobility the latter so truly possesses. A long and somewhat 

 heavily built carcass, supported by short stout legs, taking him as 



