VARIOUS ASIATIC DEER 365 



crows, got gradually driven together, until they were com- 

 pletely surrounded and at the mercy of the hunters.' One 

 battue often resulted in the capture of two hundred deer ; 

 and as the species was likely to be exterminated the 

 Government forbade methods of wholesale slaughter. 



MUNTJAO (Cervulus muntjac}. 

 Coloured Plate XXIV. Fig. 2. 



The Muntjacs form a group of small and elegant Deer, 

 often called Jungle Sheep, which are found in India, Burma, 

 the Malay Peninsula, and some of the larger islands of the 

 Indo-Malayan Archipelago. The diminutive antlers are 

 simple in character, and take their rise from bony, skin- 

 covered knobs, not at all unlike the horns of the giraffe. 

 Commencing below the eyes are two elongated ridges 

 running obliquely downwards, V-shaped, gaining for the 

 animal the name of Rib-faced Deer. 



The Indian Muntjac, or Barking Deer, so called from its 

 peculiar cry, is the best known of the five different species. 

 In size it is less than the Roe Deer, being but two feet 

 in height and weighing only about twenty-eight pounds. 

 It is one of the most beautiful animals of its race. 

 Its hair, of a dark-reddish fawn colour, is close and shiny ; 

 its limbs are slender and agile ; and its eyes are large and 

 brilliant. The antlers, only five or six inches in length, 

 consist of but the undivided beam and a brow tine. 



The Kakar, as the animal is frequently called, is a hill- 

 dweller, rarely being seen on the plains. It can make its 

 way at a great speed through the densest jungle, and, owing 

 to the difficulty of getting anything like a sure aim, hunters 

 use a charge of shot in preference to a bullet. By means of 

 rather long tusks in the upper jaw the bucks frequently gash 

 pursuing hounds severely. 



There are numerous other Asiatic Deer, of which only 

 briefest mention of several may be made. The Sika, or 

 Japanese Deer (Cervus sika), is common in Japan and 

 Northern China. In colour it is a beautiful brilliant chest- 



