INDIAN SHOOTING 265 



deer breeding all the year round instead of having a definite 

 rutting season, the shedding of horns varying with the age of 

 the stag. This is more noticeable in the forests along the foot 

 of the Himalayas than in Central India, where, though still 

 irregular, the bulk of the stags have their horns ripe in January 

 and shed them about July. 



Jerdon was of opinion that there were two species of spotted 

 deer, the smaller of the two being found in Southern India ; but 

 Sterndale quotes McMaster to the effect that the spotted deer 

 found in Orissa are more than usually large. As far as the 

 writer has been able to judge, the stags in Central India have 

 finer heads than those in the Doon and Terai. 



When stalking in forest the sportsman should bear in mind 

 that if he comes suddenly on game his best chance of avoiding 

 detection is to stand motionless. If he attempts to crouch the 

 movement will draw attention at once, whereas if he stands still, 

 and his clothes are of the right colour, he may very likely be 

 mistaken for the stump of a tree. 



XXV. SWAMP DEER {Ruce^-vtis Duvaucelli) 



Native names : ' Gon^ ' Gond,'' ^ Barasingha,^ ^ Maha'' ; in Central 

 India^ * Gcen ' or * Goenjak ' {j?iale) ; ' Gaoni'' {female) {Sterndale) 



This deer avoids heavy forest and is nearly always found 

 in the swamps and open grassy plains near rivers. Colonel 

 Erskine, the Commissioner of Kumaon, writes of it : 



I have shot numbers of these deer, but all in the swampy 

 Terai country in the north of Oudh bordering on Nepal, and in 

 that part of the Pilibhit district on the same frontier. I have never 

 heard of it much to the west of the Pilibhit district. I should think 

 Haldwani, at the foot of the Naini Tal hill, was well beyond the 

 western limit of the tracts which it frequents ; it is found in the 

 swamps and high grass on the edges of the swamps and rivers, 

 and on the islands in the rivers, along the forest country at the 

 foot of the Himalayas, from the places I have mentioned, east- 

 -irds as far as Assam and Bhotan, and along the Barhamputra 



