ORDER ARTIODACTYLA: EVEN-TOED UNGULATES 445 



allowed to kill as many as they liked, while since that date native 

 hunters have been allowed to hunt in these districts, with the result 

 that in the wild state the species is practically extinct." (Sowerby, 

 1918, p. 122.) 



The same author writes (1937, p. 252) that this form "still occurs, 

 though in greatly reduced numbers, in the Tung Ling area" and that 

 it "is preserved in captivity in the Jehol area on Chinese deer farms." 



Manchurian Sika 



CERVUS NIPPON MANTCHURICUS Swinhoe 



C[ervus] mantchuricus Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. London 1864, p. 169, 1864. 



(Based upon a captive specimen obtained at Newchwang, Manchuria.) 

 SYNONYMS: Cervus hortulorum Swinhoe (1864); Cervus dybowskii Taczanow- 



ski (1876). 

 FIGS.: Wolf, 1867, vol. 2, pi. 13; Trans. Zool. Soc. London, vol. 7, pis. 31, 32, 



1871; Noack, 1889, pp. 10-11, figs. 1-3; Lydekker, 1898b, pi. 7, and p. 115, 



fig. 30; Lydekker, 1901, p. 233, fig. 55. 



The Manchurian Sika is being rapidly exterminated in a wild 

 state, but is preserved in domestication in considerable numbers. 



"Size larger than C. taivanus, with horns short in the stem, and 

 more resembling those of C. sika. Colouring very similar (in winter 

 coat) to that of C. taivanus. Red patch on occiput, on each shoulder, 

 and on side of neck. Black line down back somewhat indistinct; 

 mane from side and back of neck rather long, thick, shaggy, and 

 dark-coloured. Belly pale reddish white. Thighs light reddish 

 brown." (Swinhoe, 1864, p. 169.) 



"This fine deer ... is still found in the eastern part of Man- 

 churia and the neighbouring Ussuri, Primorsk and Amur regions 

 of Eastern Siberia and Northern Korea, but is rapidly being exter- 

 minated in a wild state. . . . Formerly it was very plentiful, ob- 

 servers having reported large herds on the move in the Amur-Ussuri 

 Region." (Sowerby, 19376, p. 252.) Elsewhere (1923, pp. 106-108) 

 Sowerby writes : 



[The Manchurian Sika] is a somewhat rare animal at the present time 

 owing to the persecution to which it has been subjected for the sake of its 

 horns when in velvet, which are supposed by the Chinese to be better than 

 those of the wapiti, and so fetch the highest prices. The only living specimens 

 I have come across have been in captivity. At Hua-shu Lin-tzu on the 

 Upper Sungari there were three or four bucks and a herd of about thirty 

 does kept on a farm. There are many such farms scattered over Manchuria, 

 so that it is to be hoped that the species is thus being preserved from 

 extinction. 



In North Corea a sika ... is said to be very plentiful, and from all accounts 

 is on the increase. This is due to the fact that the Japanese, themselves but 

 indifferent hunters, have forbidden the use of fire-arms and traps amongst 

 the Coreans. . 



