444 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



Sowerby (pp. 120-121) continues: 



The habitat of this species may be considered as confined to the forested 

 and mountainous areas of that part of Shansi that lies west of the Fen Ho. 

 Even here it occurs only in a few isolated districts, namely : [south of Ning-wu 

 Fu ; 90 miles west of Tai-yuan Fu ; and 100 miles southwest of Fen-chou Fu.] 



Formerly its range extended throughout the whole of the mountainous 

 area of West Shansi, as well as in the mountains that extend in a north and 

 south line between Shansi and Chihli; but it has been almost exterminated 

 by native hunters for the sake of its horns, which are highly valued as 

 medicine. Only a few isolated herds occur in the districts above mentioned, 

 where they keep to the densest parts of the forest. Even so, they are being 

 steadily exterminated. 



... It is during August and September that this species is most sedulously 

 hunted by the natives, for then the horns are considered to be in their prime. 



"The last specimen known to have been shot was killed by a 

 Chinese hunter-guide in 1920. The forests in West Shansi, formerly 

 fairly extensive, have been greatly reduced during the past few years, 

 and with them must vanish this fine deer. It is probably now too 

 late to save it." (Sowerby, 1937c, p. 252.) 



The distribution of the three Chinese Sikas is mapped by G. M. 

 Allen (1940, fig. 67). 



North China Sika 



CEBVUS NIPPON MANDARINUS A. Milne Edwards 



Cervus maridarinus A. Milne Edwards, Recherches Hist. Nat. Mammiferes, 

 p. 184, pis. 22, 22A, 1871. ("La Chine"; type locality restricted by 

 Lydekker (1915, p. 114) to "N. China.") 



FIGS.: Milne Edwards and Milne Edwards, 1868-1874, vol. 2, pis. 22, 22A; 

 Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1897, ph 1 (subsp.?) ; Lydekker, 18986, pi. 9 

 (subsp.?) ; Lydekker, 1901, pi. 4, fig. 4, and p. 235, fig. 56. 



The North China Sika is apparently in much the same unfortunate 

 status as the Shansi Sika. 



White spots of the body in summer pelage much larger and less 

 numerous in this form than in mantchuricus ; general color paler; 

 less white in the rump patch; belly not white, but colored like the 

 flanks. Winter pelage dark, spots on back remaining visible; hairs 

 of neck long and shaggy. Antlers more divergent than in mant- 

 churicus. (A. Milne Edwards, 1871, pp. 185-186.) 



"This species occurs in a wild state only in the Imperial Hunting 

 Grounds, north of the famous Tung Ling (Eastern Tombs) , and in 

 the Wei-ch'ang to the north of Jehol, both in Chihli province, to 

 the north and north-east of Peking. It occurs in a semi-domesti- 

 cated state in the magnificent park at Jehol. 



"Up to recent times this deer has been strictly preserved, but in 

 1911-12 the Manchu soldiers that were sent out of Peking and were 

 camped in the Eastern Tombs and Imperial Hunting Grounds were 



