t 125 j 



CHAPTER XVI. 



THE PIG, DEER, HARES AND THE GROUND AND FLYING VERMIN OF THE 



YANGTZE VALLEY. 



By F. W. Styan, F.Z.S. 



THE PIG, DEER AND HAREvS. 



IN a day's shooting one does not meet with many wild animals in this country, and few 

 come under the head of game, but a short account of those which may be added to the 

 bag will not be out of place. The wild-boar will be elsewhere treated and I will dismiss 

 him with the remark that his proper name is Sits leucomystax, the white-whiskered boar — so- 

 called from a pale streak on each side of the face. Two common errors regarding this 

 animal are so prevalent that it is, perhaps, as well to correct them here. Firstly, the young 

 until about a year old are beautifully striped on the sides, which has led to their being 

 dubbed " peccaries " and looked upon as distinct animals from their parents. Secondly, it 

 is frequently asserted that the wild-boars found in this part of the country are nothing but 

 the domestic pigs which became wild and took to the hills when the country was devastated 

 by the Taipings. The absurdity of this fallacy is at once evident without even comparing 

 the two animals. 



The little deer commonly met with by Shanghai sportsmen is the hornless river deer 

 (Hydropotes inermis), though it is often erroneously referred to as the hog-deer, a name 

 properly applied to an Indian species with small antlers, in no way allied to our Chinese 

 animal. In common with muntjacs and musk-deer it has the canine teeth developed into 

 tusks which protrude below the lower jaw ; these may be seen in old does but they are never 

 so large as in bucks. Another marked feature is the absence of horns and the coarse bristly 

 nature of the fur. 



This deer is still plentiful on the banks of the Yangtze especially in parts where there 

 are grassy plains backed by undulating scrub-covered hills. In summer, when the plains are 

 under water, the deer shelter among the brushwood ; later on, when the water subsides they 

 live a great deal among the reeds and rough grass, and towards the end of winter when the 

 reeds are cut and the ground becomes bare, they again take to the hills, spending the days 



