The Deer Tribe 



281 



The summer coat is rufous ; in winter the pelage is of a darkish brown. The Yarkand stag 

 is an apparently allied species, found in the forests bordering on the Yarkand or Tarim Eiver. 



Two more stags close the list of those Asiatic deer which approximate more or less closely 

 to the red deer type. These are the SHOU, or SIKHIM STAG, and THOROLD'S DEER, concerning 

 neither of which animals is much known at present. The shou, of which only the head 

 has yet been brought to England, appears to be a very large stag, in size approximating to 

 the gigantic wapiti. The antlers are very large, extending to as much as 55 inches over the 

 outer curve. So far as is at present known, this great deer is found in the country "north of 

 Bhutan and the valley eastward of Chumbi, which drains northward into the Sangpo." No 

 European hunter, it is believed, has ever yet levelled a rifle or even set eyes on this noble deer. 



In England Thorold's deer is known from two specimens shot by Dr. W. G. Thorold, 

 during a journey across Tibet, at an elevation of about 13,500 feet. The high Tibetan plateau 

 and other adjacent parts of Central Asia form the habitat of this species. In size Thorold's 

 deer is about on a level with the Kashmir stag : the coat is dark brown ; the antlers are 

 distinctive in their backward curve, in the lack of the bez tine, and their flattened appearance. 

 The muzzle and chin are pure white, as is the inner surface of the ears. 



WAPITI. 



WAPITI are the giants of the red deer group, carrying enormous antlers, and attaining as 

 much as 1,000 Ibs. in weight. The true wapiti of North America, known in that country 

 chiefly by the local name of Elk, carry by far the finest and the heaviest heads of any of 

 the typical deer kind. Mr. Eowland Ward, in his book " Records of Big Game," gives the 

 length of antlers of a twelve-pointer shot in the Olympic Mountains, Washington State, as 

 70 inches over the outer curve ; while another specimen, also a twelve-pointer, taken from a 

 wapiti shot in Wyoming, measures 66 inches. 

 Occasional heads bear as many as 17, 19, and 

 even 20 tines, or points, but from 12 to 14 

 points are more usual in fine average heads. 

 A good stag will stand from 5 feet 4 inches 

 to 5 feet 8 inches at the shoulder. Mag- 

 nificently shaped, splendid in form and bear- 

 ing, as in the size of its antlers, a more lordly 

 creature than the stag wapiti does not pace 

 the earth. 



" The wapiti," says Colonel Theodore 

 Roosevelt in " The Encyclopaedia of Sport," 

 "is highly polygamous, and during the rut 

 the master bulls gather great harems about 

 them and do fierce battle with one another, 

 while the weaker bulls are driven off by 

 themselves. At this time the bulls are 

 comparatively easy to approach, because they 

 are very noisy, incessantly challenging one 

 another by night and day. Settlers and 

 hunters usually speak of their challenge as 

 'whistling,' but this is a very inadequate 

 description. The challenge consists of several 

 notes, first rising and then falling. Heard 

 near by, especially among unattractive sur- 

 roundings, it is not particularly impressive, PhotobyG.W.WUion<bO>.,ltd.] [Aberdeen. 



varying in tone from a squeal to a roar, MANCHURIAN WAPITI CALLING. 



i TJ.J.I T^ 6 great si 26 of the fourth tine, characteristic of the species, is very 



and ending with grunts ; but at a little noticeable. 



36 



