10 ROE, MUSK AND SIKA. 



retinas of its eyes. The sights of the rifle are also lighted up so that 

 it is easy to take accurate aim. The bright light always has the 

 effect of arresting the quarry and rooting it to the spot, giving ample 

 time to take aim. In this way six or seven roedeer were bagged in 

 a few days. 



Another method, which may be adopted in country where, owing 

 to deep snow, the going is bad and stalking impossible, is driving. In 

 company with three other local sportsmen, I enjoyed some very good 

 driving two years ago (Jan. 1912) in the Hsi-wan-tzu district east of 

 Kalgan. The process was simple. A likely looking wood would be 

 chosen, and each member of the party would be stationed at some 

 advantageous point outside. The beaters would then go round and 

 commence driving from the other side of the wood. Always a deer 

 or two would break cover and give one or other of us a chance of 

 bringing it down. 



Up to the present two distinct species of roedeer have been describ- 

 ed from North China. The one found in Shansi, Shensi and Chihli 

 has been called Capre\olus bedfordi, having been described from a 

 specimen from West Shansi, as being slightly larger than the European 

 form. It also has much better horns, which increase in length in 

 the individuals as one works northward. The horns of the North 

 Shansi roedeer approach more nearly to the Thian Shan roe (C. 

 tianshanicus). One pair I measured were 17| inches in length', while 

 I have measured several that have been close on 1 foot, some a little 

 more, some less. The longest .West Shansi horn I have measured 

 was 10 inches. The record Thian Shan roehorn is 18| inches. 



The other Chinese species is one discovered by the writer in 

 Kansu. It was named C. melanotis, being described as more reddish 

 than C. bedfordi in its summer coat, and having the outer surface of 

 the ear mostly of a clear black colour, which is not the case in C. 

 bedfordi. 



Thie largest species of roedeer is C. pygargus, which comes from 

 Siberia. The largest horns come from the Thian Shan. 



Roedeer are common almost anywhere where there is a reason- 

 able amount of cover, and a small human population. They are 

 particularly plentiful in Shensi, North and West Shansi, and in some 

 of the wild country north of Peking. In Manchuria also they are very 

 abundant. 



The females often have two young. The males shed their horns 

 from November to December. The new growth commences in Febru- 

 ary, the velvet, is rubbed off by the end of May, the rutting season 

 commencing in August. 



