352 UNGULATES. 



When wapiti were found on the great prairies, the Indians were accustomed 

 to hunt them on horseback by forming a wide circle of mounted men, from whom 

 a certain number were detached to harass the unfortunate animals until they were 

 brought to a standstill. Another favourite method was by forming a cordon of 

 horsemen and driving a whole herd over a precipice. At the present day the more 

 sportsman-like method of hunting is, however, almost exclusively employed ; and 

 it appears that the wapiti is an animal far less difficult to approach than the red 

 deer, while it is killed by a comparatively slight wound. 



THE JAPANESE DEER GROUP (Cervus sika, etc.). 



The prettily -marked Japanese deer represents a group differing from the last 

 by the antlers having no bez-tine, so that each has usually but four points ; and 

 also by the coat being spotted with white in summer, although uniformly brown 

 during winter. Moreover, the proportionate length of the tail is much greater than 

 in the red deer group ; and the large white patch on the buttocks is completely 

 bordered with black. All the deer of this group are of medium dimensions, and 

 for the most part inhabitants of Eastern Asia. 



The Japanese deer, from Japan and North China, stands somewhat lower at 

 the shoulder than a fallow deer, and has the ground-colour of the fur dark or 

 yellowish brown, with the greater part of the tail white. These deer are very 

 abundant in North Japan and parts of China, where they frequent dense forest, 

 generally in hilly regions. The only way of shooting them is by beating the country 

 with a large number of men. The Japanese deer has been introduced into several 

 parks in Ireland and England, where it thrives well, sometimes interbreeding with 

 the red deer. 

 Mantchurian The Mantchurian deer (C. mantclmricus), of Northern China, 



Deer - may probably be regarded merely as a larger variety of the last, in 

 which the coat is generally darker coloured, with a larger dark area on the upper 

 surface of the tail. 



Dybowski's deer (C. dybowskii), from Mantchuria, appears, how- 

 ever, to be a distinct species of relatively large size, easily recognised 

 by its pure white muzzle. The ordinary length of the antlers is about 22 inches, 

 but a pair, having five tines each, which have been referred to this species, measure 

 upwards of 35 J inches. 



Better known than the last is the Formosan deer (C. taevanus) 



' from the mountains of the island from which it takes its name. The 



body-colour is lighter than in the other species, while the spots have a tendency to 



persist during the winter ; the tail being white with a black streak down the middle 



of the upper surface. These deer are caught in traps by the inhabitants of Formosa, 



by whom, as well as by the dwellers on the island of Samasana, they are kept as pets. 



Lastly, we have the imperfectly-known Caspian deer (C. caspicus) 



from the Talish Mountains, near the south-western extremity of the 



Caspian Sea in Northern Persia, which has been provisionally assigned to the 



present group. If rightly thus placed, this species is of interest as showing that 



the group is represented in Western, as well as in Eastern Asia. The one skull, on 



