ORDER ARTIODACTYLA I EVEN-TOED UNGULATES 429 



In the Kusnetzk Alatau it was found only on the upper courses 

 of the Black and White Yussi. In the Yenisei region it is recorded 

 from the headwater rivers, Mana and Kan, and in the northeastern 

 part of the Minussinsk district. Here it is most numerous on the 

 upper courses of the Kasyr and the Kisir. 



According to Schrenck (1859, pp. 161-162) , the Musk Deer occurs 

 in various localities from the upper Amur to the Pacific coast, in- 

 habiting chiefly coniferous forests in mountainous areas. It is 

 numerous along the Amur below the mouth of the Gorin. It is used 

 for both clothing and food by the natives of those parts. The tubular 

 leg bones are utilized as arrowheads. An important trade in the 

 musk pods is carried on with the Manchus and the Chinese. The 

 animal is common along the coast south of the mouth of the Amur, 

 but apparently absent on the coast to the northward, although 

 Middendorff found it common on the crest of the Stanovoi Moun- 

 tains. (Some of Schrenck's remarks apply to M. m. parvipes, if 

 Flerov (1929, p. 517) is correct in extending the range of the latter 

 north to the mouth of the Amur.) 



Radde (1862, pp. 275-277) records the species in the Yablonoi 

 and the eastern Sayan Mountains up to 7,000 feet. In the latter 

 region good hunters get 30-40 animals per year; at the north end 

 of Lake Baikal, 10-12 animals; in the Khingan Mountains, up to 

 20 animals. It was common in the Baikal Mountains until 1852, 

 when it became rarer. It is rare in the mountains of Transbaikalia 

 and in the Bureya Mountains. Along the tributaries of the Amur 

 it is preyed upon by the Yellow-throated Marten (Charronia flavi- 

 gula) . It is commonly caught in snares. The skins are little utilized. 



Sowerby (1923, pp. 109-111) contributes the following account 

 (covering in part both M. m. moschiferus and M. m. parvipes) : 



One of the least often seen of the Manchurian deer, if not the rarest, is 

 the little musk-deer. It does not appear to have been always as uncommon 

 as it is now, and there are certainly places where it is still sufficiently plenti- 

 ful to make it worth the hunter's while to set snares for it. It is by snares 

 that the musk is captured, and the same type of snare is used in Manchuria 

 and neighbouring regions as is used throughout China even to the Thibetan 

 border. . . . This is at once a brutal and wasteful method, for females and 

 young males, which have not yet developed musk-pods, are indiscriminately 

 caught along with the old males (over three years) which alone are of any 

 value. . . . 



I saw a specimen ... at I-mien-p'o, North Kirin, . . . and I also heard 

 of the existence of the animal in other parts from the Yalu to the Lower 

 Sungari and in Heilungkiang Province. So its range may be considered as 

 coincident with the forested areas of the whole region. . . . 



The musk is seldom seen, and even more seldom shot, by sportsmen. 

 [The musk pod it carries] is the cause of its persecution. Every man's hand 

 is against it. ... 



The flesh of the musk-deer is not considered very good, while the skin is 

 too small to be of much value, though, owing to its toughness it makes excellent 

 buck-skin leather when properly dressed. 



