276 Incidents of Foreign Field Sport. 



the Monass and a curious beast in the Mishmee 

 hills, called the takin. 



The Spotted Deer (Axis maculatus). This beau- 

 tiful deer is plentiful in many parts of India, but 

 is only found in two localities in Assam on both 

 banks of the Monass, and again in the Durung dis- 

 trict. McMaster, whom I knew well, thus speaks 

 of this deer : " I don't know why it is or how it is, 

 but so it is, that somehow there is a greater charm in 

 the pursuit of spotted deer than of any other of the 

 denizens of the bonnie brown forest or tangled jungle 

 where it loves to dwell. I am not alone in this 

 feeling. Many sportsmen, and some of them who 

 have slain the mighty behemoth, taurus the bull, and 

 even the feline king of the forest, recall with 

 pleasure the sport they have enjoyed after this less 

 noble and timid creature." Its general colour is 

 yellow or rufus fawn, with numerous white spots, 

 and a dark dorsal streak from the nape to the tail ; 

 head brownish, and the muzzle dark ; chin, throat, and 

 neck in front white ; lower parts and thighs internally 

 whitish ; ears brown externally, white within ; tail 

 longish, white beneath. The basal line is directed 

 forwards, and in old individuals has often one or two 

 points near the base. Whereever this deer is found 

 it is invariably gregarious. Early in the day it feeds 

 out in the open, but retires to the forest during the 

 heat of the noon. The antelope exists in very many 

 places in India, but in Assam only near the Monass, 

 principally in the south, but occasionally a few are 

 found in the north. I have been present at two or 

 three hunts with " chitas," or hunting leopards, but 



