254 ITS ALARM NOTE. 



to shoot him for the trophy of his head and antlers, but 

 he has still more dreaded enemies watching their oppor- 

 tunities ; the subtle tiger springing upon him in his lair ; 

 the leopard dropping on him from the branch of a tree as 

 he passes underneath ; or a pack of wild dogs chasing him 

 to his death. I have often watched the movements of a 

 sambur on leaving the shola for his evening meal, when 

 suddenly coming across the track of a tiger which has 

 skulked out a few minutes previously; he will at once stop 

 and with arched back, head upraised and every hair of his 

 body erect, utter the peculiar sound which gives all his 

 tribe warning, that an enemy is abroad. This peculiar bell, 

 given by a sambur when either crossing the track of, or 

 seeing a tiger, is a note of alarm apparently instinctive to 

 all the deer tribe. One hot day in August, I was at the 

 Zoological Gardens in London, and all the deer were lying 

 down in the covered sheds ; not one was out in the yards. 

 Being anxious to see the samburs which I heard had been 

 bred in the gardens, I imitated this peculiar " tiger bell " 

 as I call it. In less than two minutes, not only were the 

 samburs, but all other deer of every kind, including our 

 red deer, out in the yards with head and tail erect, ex- 

 pressions of alarm in their eyes, and walking as it were 

 on tip toe, looking out for the supposed danger. 



Stalking a sambur in India must not be compared with 

 stalking the red deer in Scotland. The sambur lives all the 

 day in small woods, sholas as they are called, which abound 

 on the hills, only coming out to feed at early dawn or late 

 evening. These Indian sholas are composed of trees and 

 jungles, giving shade and comparative safety all the day, 

 and thus the stalk can only take place at two stated periods, 



