THE MOUSE DEER 



inches high and weighing about 6 Ibs., according to 

 Blanford. 



The general body-colour in Ceylon is a dark greenish 

 grey-brown, minutely yellow speckled, and the sides are 

 spotted yellowy brown, sometimes of a much darker shade, 

 the spots about the middle of the sides merging into 

 longitudinal stripes ; the belly is white. The plump little 

 body is supported on the very slenderest of legs with the 

 tiniest imaginable hoofs, and the mouth is furnished with 

 nasty sharp canine tusks in the upper jaw like the red 

 deer. The flesh is excellent eating. 



The little animal frequents forest anywhere in the 

 low country and the lower mountain forests, and is seldom 

 or never seen in the open, though I once shot one at 

 the side of an open road in the low country. They are 

 generally solitary, but occasionally two are seen together. 

 They are easily killed with small shot, and also are eagerly 

 hunted by dogs, but are with difficulty forced to break 

 cover. 



Walking along any forest track in the low country, 

 you will often hear a sudden rustle in the dead leaves, 

 under the undergrowth, followed by receding bounds 

 which make a curious sort of " thump-thump " noise 

 accompanied by an equally curious sort of twittering chirp 

 this is merely a chevrotain startled away. I have often 

 come upon one quite close and it has merely chirped and 

 bounded away a few yards, then stopping to have a look 

 at me, not appearing in the least frightened. 



I have occasionally hunted and shot them over dogs 

 in the lantana bush around the estate, but they can hardly 

 be classed as game, and are not included in close-season 

 protection. 



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