360 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



sportsman desirous of obtaining a specimen ; on a four-horn 

 being put up, his hiding-place might be noted, the attendants 

 sent on a few hundred yards, and the sportsman remain 

 behind to intercept the animal on its return. The writer has 

 never tried this plan, but only offers the suggestion for what it 

 is worth. 



The four-horn has the stilted action peculiar to deer lets, 

 walking on the tips of its toes. Sterndale remarks that it is 

 higher at the croup than the withers, and runs with its neck 

 stuck out in a poky sort of way, making short leaps. 



LI. THE MOUSE DEER (Meminna indica] 

 Native names : ' Pisora,' ' Pisai' 



Habitat, the large forests of India ; but it is not known, 

 according to Jerdon, in the countries eastward of the Bay of 

 Bengal. It is common in the bamboo forests of the Central 

 Provinces (Sterndale). The writer has never heard of it in 

 Northern India, nor has he even seen it in Central India ; in 

 the Western Ghauts it is common enough. 



In colour it is an olive dun, with lines of pale yellow spots 

 along the sides ; the lower parts are white ; the ears small 

 and rounded ; the legs fine and delicate, being scarcely thicker 

 than an ordinary pencil ; the tail is short. The male has 

 delicate little tushes pendant from the upper jaw, like the 

 Barking deer ; the scrotum is hairless, and instead of being 

 between the legs is behind them, like the ordinary little Indian 

 ground squirrel, which it very much resembles in colour and 

 markings. It is commonly found in bamboo jungle, and the 

 writer got a good specimen in the Western Ghauts. Sterndale 

 writes of some tame mouse deer which he had : ' They trip 

 about most daintily on the tips of their toes, and look as if a 

 puff of wind would blow them away. They are said to rut in 

 June and July, and bring forth two young about the end of the 

 rainy season.' 



