ORDER ARTIODACTYLA I EVP:N-TOED UNGULATES 433 



the local hunters almost invariably use dogs. . . . The tushes of 

 the deer are in common use as ornaments." 



Schafer writes (1933, pp. 301-303) that this is the commonest 

 game animal of the border regions of China and Tibet. It is ubiq- 

 uitous in the forested country, from 2,000 m. up to the tree line. It 

 is a solitary animal, and flees from culture. It is very secretive and 

 entirely nocturnal, and thus very difficult to meet with. The natives 

 either hunt it with dogs or set foot snares for it. 



According to Brooke Dolan, II (MS., 1938; cf. also Dolan in 

 G. M. Allen, 1939, p. 280) , Musk Deer are universally distributed 

 throughout the marches of eastern Tibet. They range "from com- 

 paratively low altitudes to the highest growth of dwarf rhododen- 

 dron. Their favorite habitat is probably at about 12,500 ft. in rho- 

 dodendron, spruce or prickly oak. It is principally there that they 

 are trapped by professional musk hunters, but their salvation seems 

 to lie in the fact that there is a reserve in higher altitudes where the 

 native hunters cannot trap them profitably." 



According to a recent estimate, from 10,000 to 15,000 of the 

 animals are killed yearly. In addition to the musk pods, the hide 

 and the flesh are prized by the natives. Natural enemies include 

 the Yellow-throated Marten, Wild Dog, Tibetan Lynx, Wolf, 

 Leopard, Blue and Black Bears, and Golden Eagle. (Engelmann, 

 1938, p. 23.) 



Himalayan Musk Deer 



MOSCHUS MOSCHIFERUS CHRYSOGASTER HodgSOn 



Moschus chrysogaster Hodgson, Jour. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, vol. 8, p. 203, 

 1839. ("Cis and Trans-Hemalayan regions"; type locality shown to be 

 "Nepal" (Lydekker, 1915, vol. 4, p. 6).) 



FIG.: Stockley, 1928, pi. facing p. 164. 



The Himalayan Musk Deer has perhaps fared a little better at 

 the hands of man than the other subspecies have. 



Hodgson (1839, p. 203) applies the name chrysogaster to what is 

 apparently one of several color phases found in the Himalayan 

 region. He describes it as follows: "Bright sepia brown sprinkled 

 with golden red ; orbitar region, lining, and base of ears, whole body 

 below, and insides of the limbs, rich golden red or orange; a black- 

 brown patch on the buttocks . . . ; limbs below their central flexures 

 fulvescent." 



Blanford (1891, p. 553) gives the range, in part, as "throughout 

 the Himalayas as far west as Gilgit, at elevations exceeding 8000 

 feet (in Sikhim in the summer above 12,000) , in forest and brush- 

 wood." Lydekker (1915, vol. 4, p. 6) records a specimen from as far 

 east as "Kachar" (Assam) . 



15 



