ORDER ARTIODACTYLA: EVEN-TOED UNGULATES 467 



in a season or two, that we had great difficulty in finding them. They range 

 from mid-spruce forest up through rhododendron and dwarf rhododendron to 

 the grasslands just below the peaks, i. e. from about 12,000 to 16,000 ft. They 

 occur on the fringes of the high steppes along the scarps of the upper Yangtze 

 River in dwarf rhododendron forest. These animals are also probably pro- 

 tected by native chiefs and lamaseries in the interior of Tibet, for of 13 full yak 

 loads of antlers observed by us when they were brought to the market at 

 Jyekundo about 90% were shed antlers. The antlers are said to be retained 

 well through the month of March. 



The herds generally consist of 5 to 20 animals, and occasionally 

 of as many as 40 (Schafer, in Engelmann, 1938, p. 36) . 



Pere David's Deer. Mi-lu; Ssu-pu-hsiang (Chinese) 



ELAPHURUS DAVIDIANUS Milne Edwards 



Elaphurus Davidianus A. Milne Edwards, C. R. Acad. Sci. [Paris], vol. 62, 

 p. 1091, 1866. (Imperial Park at some distance from [a league south of] 

 Pekin, China.) 



FIGS.: Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, vol. 2, Bull., pi. 4, 1866; Trans. Zool. 

 Soc. London, vol. 7, pi. 28, 1871; Hunting in Many Lands (Book Boone 

 and Crockett Club), pi. facing p. 271, 1895; Lydekker, 1898b, pi. 19, and 

 p. 234, fig. 63; Lydekker, 1901, pi. 5, fig. 1, and p. 261, fig, 62; Lydekker, 

 19036, pi. facing p. 274; Bridges, 1935, p. 42, fig. 10; Pocock, 1937, p. 702, 

 fig. 



This remarkable deer is unknown in the wild state. It was origi- 

 nally brought to the attention of zoologists in 1865 through the 

 presence of a herd in the Imperial Hunting Park south of Peking. 

 In 1935 it was reported as "apparently now represented only by the 

 herd at Woburn Abbey, Bedfordshire," England (Ward, 1935, p. 12) . 



The general carriage is unlike that of a Red Deer; the gait is 

 donkeylike; the bushy tail is donkeylike and longer than that of any 

 other deer, reaching the hocks; the stags have the unique habit of 

 shedding the antlers twice a year. The general color is reddish 

 tawny, verging toward gray; lower part of the limbs paler; muzzle, 

 area about eyes, inside of ears, buttocks, and under parts whitish; 

 tip of tail blackish brown; a blackish brown longitudinal stripe on 

 neck, fore part of back, and chest. Height at shoulder, about 45 

 inches. Antlers about 28 to 35 inches along the outside curve ; fork- 

 ing at a short distance above the burr; the front prong dividing 

 again, the hind prong long and straight. Young at first profusely 

 spotted with white. (Lydekker, 1901, p. 265, and 1915, vol. 4, p. 153; 

 Ward, 1935, p. 12.) 



"Its original home was probably the plains of Chihli before they 

 became settled up, where it lived in swamps covered with reeds and 

 willows; and ... as the whole of these plains were brought under 

 cultivation the animal disappeared, with the exception of a few that 

 were kept by the Emperors in large parks and hunting grounds" 

 (Sowerby, 1923, p. 112). 



