MUNTJAC OR BARKING DEER 93 



Frontlet and Antlers of Indian Muntjac. 



The MUNTJAC or BARKING DEER (Cervulus muntjac). 



This species is the typical representative of a genus of small Indo- 

 Malay deer differing widely from all those included in Cei-vus. The 

 antlers, which do not usually exceed half the length of the head, have 

 a short brow-tine and an unbranched beam, and are supported on long 

 skin-covered pedicles, continued downwards as convergent ridges on 

 the forehead, whence the name of rib-faced deer. Tufts of bristly 

 hair occupy the position of the antlers in the females. The muzzle 

 has a large naked portion, and although there is generally a pair of 

 glands on the face, there are none either on the hock or the cannon- 

 bone. The young are spotted, but the adults uniformly coloured. 

 In the common muntjac, which is one of the reddish-coloured species, 

 and whose range extends from Ceylon and India through Burma to 

 China, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and Java, the height at the 

 shoulder varies from 20 to 22 inches. The Chinese muntjac (C. 

 recvesi], from Southern China and Formosa, is a much smaller species, 

 also reddish in colour; but in the rare Tenasserim muntjac (C. fe(Z\ 

 and the larger but equally scarce hairy-fronted muntjac (C. crinifrons] 

 of Eastern China, the general hue of the body is dark purplish sepia- 

 brown, with white on the buttocks and under surface of the tail. 

 The average height of the common species at the shoulder is about 

 26 inches, and weight about 28 Ibs. ; a female stands about 23 inches 

 and weighs about 32 Ibs. 



Several local races of the common muntjac doubtless exist. The 

 typical form (C. muntjac typicus} is the Javan animal ; the Burmese 

 race has been distinguished as C. muntjac grandicornis, while the Indian 



