400 SPORT IN EUROPE 



inches, but the palmation was not strongly developed. Driving was 

 the mode employed after the animals had been located in a great 

 circle of about four miles in circumference by their tracks in deep 

 snow. In North-Eastern Siberia they are occasionally secured by 

 professional hunters, who go out after sable and fox, and I have 

 heard of fine antlers being brought into Vladivostok, though I have 

 myself nev^er seen any of them. I presumed they belonged to rein- 

 deer closely allied to the North American woodland caribou. 



The European roedeer {Capreolus vulgaris) is distributed in most 

 of the southern governments of Russia proper, as well as in the 



Caucasus. Some specimens from the government of 

 Roedeer. 



Kiev show that they attain larger dimensions than 



those of Western Europe, and their horns are very nearly as large as 



those of their Siberian relative. They are carefully preserved in 



some parts by influential landowners, and abound in districts where 



purshen (stalking) as well as autumn driving are in vogue. I have 



seen as many as fifteen bucks shot in one drive. I cannot agree with 



those writers who regard the Caucasian roedeer as identical with 



Capreolus pygargiis. It appears to me rather to be identical with the 



European form. Capreolus pygargns is distributed all over the Ural 



Mountains and Southern Siberia, including the Altai and Amur 



districts. It is larger than the European roe, and the antlers are 



longer, and usually have wider spread. I have shot several in the 



Ural Mountains exclusively by driving, and have stalked them in the 



Altai, where they exist in great numbers, and are known as ielik. 



They are very wary and exceedingly difficult to approach. In our 



trip of 1897 Littledale managed to secure a very fair specimen, whose 



