386 DEER GROUP 



occur " at the present day is that strip of well-forested country which 

 extends from near the Mediterranean coast on the frontier of Algeria and 

 Tunis (near La Calle), southwards to the verge of the Sahara Desert. 

 The deer is most abundant in the cork-forests of north-western Tunisia 

 and in the pine-forests to the east of Tebessa. The Barbary stag is 

 now protected in Tunisia, and is increasing considerably in numbers, 

 especially in the pine-forests on the Tunisian side of the frontier near 

 Tebessa." 



THE FALLOW DEER 



(Cervus \Dama\ damd] 



The fallow deer a species too well known to require anything in 

 the way of description in this place is found at the present day, or 

 at all events was till recently, in the wild state in parts of Greece, 

 Spain, Portugal, Sardinia, and Asia Minor, and is likewise believed 

 to be indigenous to northern Africa, more especially eastern Algeria. 

 According, however, to Sir H. H. Johnston, there is no evidence of the 

 occurrence of truly wild fallow deer in either Tunisia or Algeria during 

 the nineteenth century. It is true, indeed, that there was a small herd 

 of about fifty head on a certain estate in the north of Tunisia about 

 a dozen years ago ; but these are stated to be the descendants of deer 

 imported by the Beys of Tunis from Europe. The subject requires 

 further investigation. 



THE WATER-CHEVROTAIN 



(Dorcatherimn aquaticuwi) 



The chevrotains, or mouse-deer, as they are commonly called, are 

 small, delicately built ruminants, in some respects intermediate beween 

 deer (with which they are often confounded) on the one hand, and 

 camels and pigs on the other. They have, for instance, the hinder 

 cheek-teeth of a deer-like type, and they lack upper front or incisor 

 teeth. But their foremost cheek-teeth are of a more pig-like type, 

 while the structure of their feet is, on the whole, more pig-like than 

 deer-like. They have no trace of horns or antlers, but their upper 

 jaws are armed with formidable flattened tusks, like those of the musk- 

 deer. Chevrotains form a family (Tragulida), of which the typical 

 members [Tragulus] are confined to the warmer parts of Asia, the 



