0|4 RUM1NANTIA. 



miles in nineteen hours are not uncommon. In truth, some sto- 

 ries of their swiftness would appear incredible, if not so fully at- 

 tested. Pictet, with three deer, went in 1769 to the north of Lap- 

 land, in order to observe the 'transit of Venus. "The first per- 

 formed 3089 feet, 8 inches and T 9 ^ in two minutes, making a 

 rate of nearly nineteen English miles an hour; the second went 

 over the same ground in three minutes, and the last in three 

 minutes and twenty-six seconds." One is recorded to have 

 "drawn, in 1699, an officer, with important dispatches, eight 

 hundred English miles in forty-eight hours; and the portrait of 

 the poor deer, which fell dead at the end of its remarkable 

 journey, is still preserved at the palace of Drottingholm, Sweden." 

 C. muntjac, or Cervulus (Lat. dim.) vaginahs. (Lat. sheathed.) 

 The MUNTJAC or KIJANG, of India. (PI. VII. fig. 8.) 



This animal is a little larger than the Roebuck ; has a pointed 

 head and rather large ears ; its eyes are large with lachrymal 

 sinuses ; the tail is short and flattened ; the male has large ca- 

 nine teeth in the upper jaw ; the female has none, and is without 

 horns. The horns in the male are short and simple, " rising 

 from a footstalk apparently beneath the skin, and running ob- 

 liquely upwards, one on each side of the forehead, beginning as 

 low down as the inner angle of the eye." On the face, two 

 rough folds of the skin, following the direction of the prominent 

 part of the forehead, unite so as to mark the face with the letter 

 V. The general color is a reddish brown above ; the under 

 parts and front of the thighs, pure white. The Chinese Muntjak 

 is of a grayish brown color, with pale ringed hair. The Munt- 

 jak is one of the most elegant and beautiful of the deer kind. 

 It possesses "a great portion of craftiness, combined with much 

 indolence." As it gives forth a strong scent, dogs easily follow 

 its path. In its flight, it is at first very swift; but it soon slack, 

 ens its speed, and taking a circular course, returns to the spot 

 from which it started. After making several such circuits, if 

 still followed, it thrusts its head into a thicket, and thus remains 

 fixed, as in a secure place, unmindful of the approach of the 

 sportsman. The male animal has a great share of courage, and 

 when the dogs are at bay with him, he makes, with his tusks, a 

 most vigorous defence, and many dogs are wounded in the attack. 

 Dr. Horsefield, whose account of this animal is the most satis- 

 factory, states that the Muntjak "selects for its retreat certain dis- 

 tricts which it never voluntarily deserts. Many of these dis- 

 tricts are known as the favorite resort of the animal for several 

 generations. They consist of moderately elevated grounds, di- 

 versified by ridges and valleys, tending towards the acclivities 



