THE DEER— AMERICAN DEER. 



531 



eluded in the tail; the height at the withers is about 

 forty inches. The female is considerably smaller. 

 In general the distinctive characteristics of this Deer 

 are those of its group. A notable feature is the 

 strong mane, which is developed at the throat and 

 chin, the hair composing which hardly differs in 

 character from the hair of other portions of the 

 body. 



As far as is now known the Great Rusa is a native 

 of Java; to Borneo it is said to have been imported 

 by Man. Travelers say that this Deer gathers ' into 

 very numerous troops, which frequent open grass- 

 covered plains more than they do woodlands. Dur- 

 ing the heat of the day the animals lie hidden in the 

 grass and reeds or in the bushes; before sunset they 

 set out for a pool and at the advent of evening they 

 begin grazing. They are exceedingly fond of water, 

 and this trait can be observed in cap- 

 tive specimens, which always display 

 great eagerness for a mud-bath. 



The movements of the Rusa de- 

 serve a short description. No other 

 Deer that I know struts along with 

 so much dignity as this one. Its gait 

 exactly resembles an artificial pace, 

 the so-called "Spanish walk" of a 

 trained saddle Horse. Every one of 

 its movements is like those which a 

 Horse executes under the direction 

 of his rider. 



On the grand hunts held by the 

 Malayan princes, in which the ani- 

 mals are driven by beaters, many 

 hundreds of this species of Deer are 

 sometimes slain; though the hunters 

 do not employ fire-arms, but use only 

 swords and spears to slay them or 

 nooses to capture them alive. Jung- 

 huhn says that this Deer is hunted 

 only for its flesh, which is cut into 

 thin slices, rubbed with salt, dried in 

 the sun and called "jendeng." It is 

 considered the most palatable accom- 

 paniment of the various rice-dishes, 

 which are never absent from the table 

 of Javanese chiefs, and is also es- 

 teemed as an excellent dish in the 

 menu of Europeans. The skin is not 

 used. 

 Physical Propor- The Hog Deer (Rusa 

 tions and Habitat porcinus) is one of the 

 of the Hog Deer, commonest species in 

 India and exhibits the most awkward 

 and ungainly forms of the whole fam- 

 ily. It is of a moderately heavy organization, thick- 

 bodied, short-legged, short-necked and short-headed. 

 The general color, usually, is a coffee-brown, which 

 deepens into blackish-brown in the male and fades 

 into tan color in the female. The antlers of the 

 male, as a rule, bear six spurs; the horns are weak, 

 stand on rather high cranial protuberances and at- 

 tain a length of from fourteen to sixteen inches. 



The Hog Deer is a native of the greater part of 

 British India and Burmah. It is commonest in the 

 Ganges country, and rarer in central India. Gener- 

 ally the animals live singly, but sometimes one finds 

 two or three together. They prefer grassy spots 

 thinly grown with bushes to the jungle or to a forest 

 of tall trees, though they occasionally also occur in 

 the latter in large glades. They lie hidden by day 

 and feed by night; when alarmed, they flee in a 



curious and rather awkward manner, with the head 

 held low, their name being derived from this gait. 



The majority of the Hog Deer which are found 

 in zoological gardens are exported from Bengal. 

 The climate of temperate Europe agrees tolerably 

 well with them, but they require a sheltered place 

 to which they can retreat in rough weather. They 

 breed readily, and increase considerably even when 

 kept in a narrow enclosure. 



NORTH AMERICAN DEER. 



The Mazama Deer (Cariacus) live in North Amer- 

 ica and northern parts of South America; they are 

 delicately formed, graceful Deer, distinguished as 

 much by their structure as by the antlers of the 

 male. Their shape is very slender, and the neck 

 and head are long; the legs are of moderate length, 



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THE S AMBH AR. This is an Indian species of Deer which derives its scientific name from 



the fact that it is mentioned by Aristotle. Its antlers are heavy and it has a mane-like growth of 

 hair under the neck. (Cervus or Rusa aristotelis.) 



but slender, and the tail rather long. The antlers 

 are either forked or bent in one curve from behind 

 outward and forward and branch in from three to 

 seven spurs, which are all directed inward. These 

 antlers have a basal spur, but the two other anterior 

 spurs, found in Old World species, are absent. The 

 coat is formed of close, soft, glossy hair. It devel- 

 ops into a mane in the male and into a tuft on the 

 tail of both sexes. 



Structure and The best known species is the Vir- 

 Range of the Vir- ginia Deer or Carjacou (Cariacus 

 ginia Deer. virginianus) which exhibits an affin- 

 ity to the Fallow Deer in many respects, about 

 equaling it in size, but differing markedly from it 

 by reason of its graceful form and especially the 

 elongated, fine head, which one may, with some jus- 

 tice, call the most beautiful head belonging to any of 



