264 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



XXIV. SPOTTED DEER (Axis maculattts) 

 Native names : ' Chital,'' ' Chitra ' ; the Stag ' Jhank ' 



About the beauty of the skin of this beast, the writer 

 heard a story of a man who was taking such particular pains to 

 preserve the hide of a stag he had shot that his companion 

 asked him what he wanted it for, adding, ' It's only a chital.' 

 ' Yes,' returned the other, ' it may be only a chital on the banks 

 of the Nerbudda, but I am going to send it home, and it will 

 be a leopard at Northampton.' 



The horns are of the rusine type, but the brow antler has 

 a more graceful forward curve than in the sambur, and the 

 anterior terminal point is always longer than the posterior. 

 Small false points are also frequently thrown out at the base of 

 the brow antler. 



Chital ate often shot off elephants, but the sport is not to 

 be compared to stalking them ; and as chital always seem to select 

 the loveliest scenery in the forest for their abode, a morning or 

 evening stroll after them is most enjoyable, or, if the heat is 

 too great to render a long walk pleasant, a shot may often be 

 obtained in the evening by watching a glade where the young 

 grass is springing up after a foiest fire. There must, however, 

 be water in the vicinity, as chital are rarely found at any great 

 distance from it. 



The peculiar call of the chital can be heard for a long 

 distance, and is a common hunting signal among many jungle 

 tribes. If a chital is heard repeatedly calling in one spot, it is 

 generally a danger signal, and means that a tiger or panther is 

 on foot. 



Unlike hogdeer, chital often go in large herds, each herd 

 being owned by one big stag, though there may be many 

 smaller stags in it. 



The horns are shed annually but very irregularly, stags 

 without horns, in the velvet, and with matured horns, being 

 often met with in the same day. This is attributable to the 



