548 CEETID.E. 



horizontal line. Chin aud upper throat, belly, inside of limbs, and 

 lower surface of the tail white. Head brownish unspotted, the 

 face darker. Ears brown outside, white within. A melanoid 

 variety indistinctly spotted occasionally occurs (C. nudipalpebra). 



Dimensions. Height of males at shoulder 36 to 38 inches in 

 Central and Northern India, length 4| to 5 feet. A female 

 measured 30 inches high, 53 long ; tail with hair 12|, without 1 0. 

 In Southern India the height is considerably less, 30 to 34 inches 

 according to Jerdon. But an Anaimalai male measured by Hornaday 

 was nearly 36 inches high, 62 long, and weighed 145 Ib. Basal 

 length of a large male skull 9-75, orbital breadth 4-7. Horns of 

 the larger variety have been measured 38 and 38*75 inches long 

 round the curve, with a girth of 4 at mid-beam and 5-75 at the 

 base above the burr. Ordinary horns measure about 30 in length, 

 but heads from Bengal and Southern India are generally smaller. 



Distribution. The spotted deer is found nearly throughout India 

 and Ceylon. It occurs at the base of the Himalayas, not, how- 

 ever, ascending the mountains beyond the lower spurs, from the 

 neighbourhood of the Sutlej to Nepal, but not in Sikhim. It is not 

 found in the Punjab plains, nor in Sind, and only to the eastward 

 in Eajputana ; it is wanting also in Assam and to the east of the 

 Bay of Bengal, but common in the Sundarbans, apparently as far 

 east as Mymensing (J. A. S. B. xxii, p. 415), throughout Bengal 

 and Orissa, the N.W. Provinces, Central India, Mysore, Malabar, 

 and Ceylon, in all suitable localities. It ascends the hills of 

 S. India in places to about 3500 or 4000 feet. 



Varieties. With the exception of the rare melanoid form already 

 mentioned, the only variation, so far as I know, is in size. The 

 spotted deer of Lower Bengal, Malabar, Southern India, and 

 Ceylon are considerably smaller than those of the North-west and 

 Central Provinces, and of the hills of Orissa and Vizagapatam. 

 Hodgson proposed the name of Axis minor for the smaller race, 

 and Jerdon was inclined to regard it as distinct, but there is 

 now a general agreement that the two forms are merely local 

 varieties. 



Habits. The especial habitat of this deer, perhaps the most 

 beautiful in form and coloration of the \vhole family, is amongst 

 bushes and trees near water, and in bamboo-jungle. The spotted 

 deer is found both in hilly ground and on alluvial plains. It never 

 goes far from its drinking-places. So long as it has a wild tract 

 of bush or ravines for shelter, it appears to care little for the 

 neighbourhood of man. Many of its favourite haunts are in some 

 of the most beautiful wild scenery of the Indian plains and lower 

 hills, on the margins of rippling streams with their banks over- 

 grown by lofty trees, or in the grassy glades that open out amidst 

 the exquisite foliage of bamboo clumps. Spotted deer are 

 thoroughly gregarious and associate at all times of the year in 

 herds, sometimes of several hundreds. They are less nocturnal 

 than sambar, and may be found feeding for three or four hours 

 after sunrise, and again in the afternoon for an hour or two before 



