276 THE AXIS OK SPOTTED DEER. 



shikarie pointed out another herd, in which he said there 

 was a "sing walla" (a fine buck). I could see one or two 

 does offering tempting shots but I would not fire, and they 

 moved on, and then to my disgust I saw that what I had 

 taken for the stump of a tree about seventy yards from me, 

 was the white chest and neck of the buck. 



In June, 1864, I went to join my friend Falkner on a 

 sporting trip, and devoted myself entirely to the pursuit of the 

 spotted Deer, and whilst on this trip I shot some very good 

 bucks, with fine heads. One had antlers thirty-one and three 

 quarter inches in length with a spread of twenty-three inches, 

 another thirty- four and a quarter inches long with a spread 

 of twenty-one inches, and another thirty-one and a quarter in 

 length with a spread of twenty-six inches ; the average length 

 in Southern India being a little under thirty inches. All 

 these were very handsome animals, the horns being very mas- 

 sive and beautifully shaped. Coming home that evening in the 

 dusk, we had just entered a glade when the Punnian pointed, 

 and I saw what I thought was a very large spotted buck. I 

 fired at it, but there it remained, and when I went up to it I 

 found it was a bush with white leaves! In this trip I killed 

 a spotted deer with very extraordinary antlers. I found a 

 herd in an open glade, with two very fine bucks. I got 

 down to them and was just going to fire at what I thought 

 was the largest of the two when he laid down behind a bush 

 and I could only see the top of his antlers. The other buck 

 looked very large so I determined to have a crack at him. I 

 threw him on his tracks about fifty-five yards distant. He 

 bellowed like a bull, and on going up I found he had the most 

 extraordinary antlers I ever saw. No less than ten tines. 

 The length of the antlers were thirty-three and a half inches 



