THE MUSK DEER 985 



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 anicus}. In the Himalayas it is seldom found below elevations of eight thousand 



feet in summer, and in Sikkim it occurs above twelve thousand feet. 



Musk deer are found either in pairs or alone, and in the Kashmir 



Himalayas are generally met with in the birch forests above the zone 

 of pines. Sometimes, however, they may be seen at lower levels among thick 

 cover. In habits they have been compared by General Kinloch to hares, and, like 

 these animals, they make a "form," in which they lie concealed during the day, 

 their feeding time being in the morning and evening. Musk deer seem capable of 

 enduring almost any degree of cold, against which the peculiar nature of their thick 

 fur is doubtless a sufficient protection. In early spring they may be seen among 

 the steep birch forests around Kashmir, when the ground is deeply buried in snow, 

 making their way from tree to tree in search of the young twigs and buds upon 

 which they then chiefly subsist. On such ground they are very active and sure 

 footed, their large lateral hoofs being apparently adapted to aid them in obtaining 

 a foothold on hard snow slopes and smooth slippery rocks. 



General Kinloch states that musk deer utter a kind of hiss when alarmed, and 

 it is ascertained that when captured they give vent to a series of screams; with 

 these exceptions they appear to be silent, even in the pairing season. From obser- 

 vations on some musk deer kept in captivity in Nipal, it appears that the sexes 

 come together in January, and that the fawns are born in June. Usually there is 

 but a single young one at birth, but occasionally two are produced. 



The musk, which, as already mentioned, is found in the male alone, 



when fresh is soft and moist, of a brownish color, and with a rather 

 unpleasant smell. It soon, however, hardens and dries, and at the same time ac- 

 quires the all-powerful scent of musk. When removed from the dead animal, the 

 secretion is tied up in a portion of the hairy skin" covering the gland, and is then 

 known as a "musk-pod." Each pod will contain on an average about an ounce of 

 musk, and in India will fetch some sixteen rupees in the market. 



English sportsmen hunt musk deer either by walking through the 



forests they frequent, and carefully examining every ravine and hol- 

 low, or by having the jungles driven by natives. On the other hand, the natives them- 

 selves capture these little deer in a wholesale manner, which is described as follows 

 by General Macintyre. ' 'A low fence is made of boughs, etc. , along the ridge of a 

 hill, sometimes a mile or more in length. At intervals of one hundred or one hun- 

 dred and fifty yards are gaps. The musk deer, crossing the ridge from one valley 

 to another, come across this fence, and, to save themselves the trouble of jumping 

 over it, walk alongside until, seeing a little gap, they try to go through it. But in 

 each gap a noose of strong string is placed on the ground and tied to a stout sapling 

 bent downward. The noose is so arranged that, when the deer tread inside it, 

 the sapling is loosed and flies back, leaving the noose tied tightly round the animal's 

 leg. The people visit these fences every two or three days, and secure the deer thus 

 caught, and repair the fences and nooses, which are often carried away or destroyed 

 by larger game." In spite of the constant persecution to which they are subject, 

 musk deer are still fairly common in many parts of the Himalayas, where they are 

 known by the name of kastura. 



