JAPANESE SIKA 



59 



Antlers of Japanese Sika. 

 From a specimen presented to the British Museum by Viscount Powerscourt. 



JAPANESE SIKA (Cervus sica). 



The common sika is the typical representative of a small group of 

 deer in which the antlers are shorter and simpler than is usually the 

 case in the red deer group, and have generally four tines, including a 

 trez, but lacking a bez. The coat is spotted, at least in summer, and 

 there is a black-bordered white area in the region of the tail, which is 

 relatively long. In the common sika the tail is white at the tip, but 

 black above for at least some part of its length ; and the gland on the 

 hind cannon-bone is covered with white hairs. The coat is chestnut 

 red with numerous white spots in summer, and browner, with no, or 

 only indistinct traces of, spots in winter. These deer are distributed 

 over Northern China, Manchuria, and Japan, and are represented by 

 two closely allied races differing chiefly in size. In the Japanese 

 sika (C. sica typicus], which inhabits Japan and Northern China, the 

 height at the shoulder varies from about 2 feet 8 inches to 2 feet 10 

 inches, whereas in the Manchurian sika (C. sica manchuricus] it reaches 



