INDIAN SHOOTING 



267 



side by side. Sterndale says that in Schomburgk's deer the 

 tres and royal tines are equal, whilst in the swamp deer the tres 

 tine is longer than the royal. 



In the high grass of the Terai and Assam, swamp deer are 

 generally shot off elephants, but in some parts of Central India 

 the ground is open enough to permit of their being stalked. 

 Forsyth gives a capital account of the sport he enjoyed while 

 hunting them in the Sal forests of Central India. Swamp deer 

 are gregarious, and Jerdon quotes from an article in ' The Indian 

 Sporting Review ' a case of three large herds being seen on one 



Rucervus Schomburgkii 



plain. The general colour of the beast is a light yellowish red, 

 paler in the winter than in the summer ; the under parts and 

 below the tail are white. The hinds are lighter coloured than 

 the stags, and the fawns are spotted. The stags appear to 

 shed their horns about March or April, as, Forsyth says, they 

 lose the velvet at the close of the rainy season ; he also says 

 that they shed their horns more regularly than the Rusince. 

 The following quotation from his charming book gives an 

 excellent account of their habits : 



This animal has been called in Xorth-Eastern India the ' swamp 

 deer,' but here (Central India) he is not observed to be particularly 



