948 



THE UNGULATES, OR HOOFED MAMMALS 



Distribution 



three tines. This distinctive characteristic of the swamp deer has not escaped the 

 notice of the natives of India, by whom it is designated barasingha, that is, "twelve 

 tined." This deer is a rather large species, the bucks standing from three feet 

 eight inches to three feet ten inches at the withers. The neck is maned, the tail of 

 moderate length, the muzzle long, and the hair rather fine and woolly. The 

 antlers are smooth and somewhat flattened, and give off the brow-tine nearly at right 

 angles to the beam; after which the beam continues without branching for a con- 

 siderable distance, finally dividing into a fork, of which the two prongs again 

 branch. Generally, as in the figure on p. 941, the inner branch of the main fork 

 has two, and the outer three tines, but the number of points is often much greater, 

 reaching from sixteen to twenty, or even more. In its winter dress the color of the 

 swamp deer is yellowish brown above and paler underneath, but in summer the 

 upper parts are reddish brown, generally more or less spotted with white, while 

 the under parts and the lower surface of the tail are pure white. The young are 

 spotted. 



Average-sized antlers of the barasingha measure about thirty inches along the 



curve, but a length of thirty-eight 

 inches has been recorded. Large 

 stags have weighed from 460 to 570 

 pounds (32 stone 12 pounds to 40 

 stone 10 pounds). 



The swamp deer is 

 confined to India, 

 where it has a local distribution; 

 being found along the foot of the 

 Himalayas, from Assam to some 

 distance west of the Jumna, and in 

 some districts in the Indo-Gangetic 

 plains, such as the Bengal sandar- 

 bans and Rohri in Sind. It is also 

 common in certain portions of 

 Central India, especially in the val- 

 ley of the Narbada, where its habitat 

 is limited to the area clothed with 

 forests of the sal tree. 



The swamp deer, 

 although sometimes 

 found in open forest, generally keeps 

 in the outskirts of the woods, and 

 frequents flat or undulating grass 

 lands, more or less interspersed with 

 In winter it is gregarious, herds of from thirty to fifty head being frequently 

 t with, while in some districts herds of several hundreds have been observed 

 ring September and October. In Assam the bucks are met with singly with the 

 itlers for the most part still in the velvet, so that the shedding time is probably 



Habits 



HEAD OF SCHOMBURGK'S DEER. 



(From Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1877.) 



