170 



KNOWLEDGE 



[August, 1902. 



profusely spotted with white ; iu winter, on the other 

 liaiul, when the coat of the old 8taf;8 hecomes very 

 lon>; and sliagf^'y, they are uniformly uniher-l)riiwn, 

 althoufjh traces of spots may persist in the youuf];or staffs 

 and liinds. The old stags are but little inferior in size to 



Fig. 2. — Peking Stag in Summer Dress, with the Antlers in Velvet. 

 Phoio'jrap'hed by the Duchess of Bedfohp. 



red deer, with which species certain hinds from the 

 Summer Palace were indeed identified by Mr. Swinhoe, 

 who quite failed to recognize that they were really the 

 adult form of his " garden deer." 



In England the Peking deer seems to thrive as well as 

 red or fallow deer, and in time we may hope to see it 

 established in many of our parks. 



But the Yuangining Yuan was not the only park where 

 deer were kept by the Chinese Emperors. To the south of 

 Peking, as shown in the accompanying sketch-map, lies a 

 park known as the Non Hai-tzu (or Nanbai-tze), far 

 exceeding in extent the Yuangming Yuan, the bi-ick wall 

 by which it is enclosed being forty-five miles in circuit. 

 This imperial hunting-park, as it is commonly called by 

 Englishmen, is separated from the city by a plain, which 

 is marshy in places, and gives rise to a river, flowing in 

 part of its course through the park itself. The whole 

 tract is thickly forest<>d, but villages and military posts 

 are dotted here and there in the clearings. 



The park was in former days strictly guarded, and no 

 Europeans were allowed entrance, although there are 

 reports that by the aid of disguises a few entered from 

 time to time. According to rumour, the park was the 

 home of large herds of deer of various kinds, as well as of 

 flocks of the Mongolian gazelle, or yellow sheep, as it is 

 called by the Chinese. 



Till the year 1865 naturalists had no idea as to the 



species of deer to be found in the Non Hai-tzu, the Anglo- 

 French ex]iedition of 1H(J0 having confined their attention 

 to Peking and the Yuangming Yuan In February of the 

 former year, however, the well-known French missionary, 

 explorer, an<l naturalist, Pere Armand David, obtained an 

 opi)ort\inity of looking over the wall, and was much 

 astonished at the sight which met his eyes. In addition 

 to Mongolian gazelles, he saw herds of a species of deer 

 which he then regarded as an unknown kind of reindeer, 

 although he described it as somewhat donkey-like in 

 api)earance, with a long well-haired tail. At that season 

 of the year the stags were without antlers. At the time 

 the energetic missionary was quite unable to obtain a 

 specimen of the new deer, but by bribing the Tatar 

 guards of the park he succeeded in January of the 

 followiug year in acquiring the skins of a stag and hind. 

 Meantime the French Minister at Peking had been en- 

 deavouring to procure a living pair of this deer by 

 diplomatic means, and in February of that year succeeded 

 in his efforts. The stag, however, unfortunately died soon 

 after its removal from the park, and its skin was sent to 

 Pari.« with those of the two specimens obtained from the 

 Tatar guards 



When these specimens arrived at the Paris Museum 

 they were examined by Prof. Milne-Edwards, who in due 

 course described them as representing a new genus and 

 species of deer, under the name of Elaphiirnn davidianiis. 

 By the Chinese, it may be well to mention, the animal is 

 known by the name of Mi-lou, or, more commonly, Ssen- 

 pou-siang. 



The accompanying photograph (Fig. 3) gives an excellent 

 idea of the external appearance of the stags of this f ery re- 

 markable and interesting species of deer. To describe its 



Fic. 3. — Pfere David's Mi-lou Stag. 



P/i(ifo-7rn]t/ied by the DrcHESs of Bedford. 



characteristics in anything like detail would obviously be 

 quite out of place in an article of the ])resent nat ure, 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 



