THE SAM BUR GROUP 945 



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three-fourths inches, and the girth just above the brow-tine seven and three-fourths 

 inches. There is likewise an equally-marked difference in regard to the degree of 

 development of the ridges and furrows on the antlers. 



The sambur occurs typically in the wooded undulating or hilly dis- 

 tricts of India and Ceylon; but Mr. Blanford concludes that the 

 smaller Malayan and Burmese forms, which have been described under the names 

 of C. hippelaphns and C. equinus, are not specifically separate, although the front- 

 tine of the terminal fork of the antlers is much shorter than the back one, instead 

 of the two being subequal. The range of the sambur accordingly extends from 

 India to the Malayan islands, and thus covers nearly the entire Oriental region. In 

 the Himalayas it may range to elevations of nine thousand or ten thousand feet, 

 and it is commonly found on the highest mountains of Southern India and Ceylon. 

 It is but seldom seen on the alluvial plains frequented by the chital, and is absent 

 from the sandy plains of Sind, the Punjab, and Rajputana. 



Mr. Blanford observes that the sambur ' ' is the woodland deer of 

 Southeastern Asia generally, and is more widely and generally dis- 

 tributed than any other species. Although it does not shun the neighborhood of 

 man to the same degree as Bos gaurus does, it is only common in wild tracts of 

 country. It comes out on the grass slopes, where such exist, as in the Nilgiris and 

 other hill ranges, to graze, but always takes refuge in the woods. It is but rarely 

 found associating in any numbers; both stags and hinds are often found singly, but 

 small herds from four or five to a dozen in number are commonly met with. Its 

 habits are nocturnal; it may be seen feeding in the morning and evening, but it 

 grazes chiefly at night, and at that time often visits small patches of cultivation in 

 the half-cleared tracts, returning for the day to wilder parts, and often ascending 

 hills to make a lair in grass among trees, where "it generally selects a spot well 

 shaded from the sun's rays. If feeds on grass, especially the green grass near water, 

 and various wild fruits of which it is very fond, but it also browses greatly on 

 shoots and leaves of trees. It drinks, I believe, daily, though Mr. Sterndale doubts 

 this; it certainly travels long distances to its drinking places at times." As regards 

 the date of the pairing season and the time of shedding the antlers, there appears to 

 be even a still greater amount of variation than is the case with the chital, and it is 

 stated on good authority that stags have been known to retain their antlers for two 

 or more years. It appears, however, that in peninsular India the pairing season 

 usually takes place in October and November, although in the Himalayas it occurs 

 in the spring. Similarly, while in the former area the antlers are most frequently 

 shed in March, in the latter, the shedding time is deferred for a month. Usually 

 there is but one fawn at a birth. 



During the pairing season sambur assemble in large numbers, and at that time 

 the old stags utter at morning and evening, and sometimes in the night, loud roar- 

 ings, which have been described as a " metallic-sounding bellow." 



Sambur are very tenacious of life, and require a well-placed bullet to bring 



them to the ground. They are usually either stalked or driven by a line of beaters; 



but Sir Samuel Baker, when in Ceylon, was in the habit of hunting them with 



hounds, and giving the coup de grdce with a knife. Describing his experience in 



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