THE DEER OF THE PEKING PARKS 275 



remarkable and interesting species of deer. To describe 

 its characteristics in anything like detail would obviously 

 be quite out "of place in an article of the present nature, 

 and it will suffice to allude to a few of its more striking 

 peculiarities. One feature, by which the stags of this 

 species differ from those of all other Old World deer, save 

 the elk and the roe, is that the antlers are of the forked 

 type that is to say, in place of having a forwardly pro- 

 jecting brow-tine immediately above their base, the main 

 shaft, or beam, is undivided for a short distance, and then 

 splits in a fork-like manner. A peculiarity of the mi-lou 

 deer, and one whereby it differs from all the numerous 

 species of American deer carrying antlers of the forked 

 type, is that the hind prong of the main fork forms an 

 undivided tine of great length directed backwards. The 

 front prong, on the other hand, is forked at least once, 

 and has but little forward inclination till the point of 

 bifurcation is reached. The long donkey-like tail, which 

 attracted the attention of the Abbe David at his first sight 

 of the animal, is particularly well displayed in the photo- 

 graph. The general colour of the coat is fawn-grey, 

 becoming lighter on the face, rump, inner sides of the 

 limbs, and under-parts. Unlike the majority of deer, 

 there is but little change in the colour of the coat accord- 

 ing to season. One very curious peculiarity displayed by 

 the stags in the herd of mi-lou deer at Woburn Abbey 

 is that they shed and renew their antlers twice a year, 

 instead of once, as in other deer. Whether, however, this 

 peculiarity has always been inherent in the species, or 

 whether it is the result of long domestication, is impossible 

 to say, for the species is quite unknown in a wild state. 

 Indeed, it cannot now be ascertained whether this double 

 change of antlers took place among the herds irr the 



