DEER. 185 



annual grass burnings will have driven deer to moister 

 localities, together with nobler game, to whose pursuit the 

 sportsman is more likely to devote himself. The stalking 

 season, therefore, may be said to be closed from the 

 middle of March to the burst of the monsoon in June. 



The sambur (C. Aristotelis) is the finest specimen of 

 the deer tribe that roams the Southern Indian forests a 

 good stag standing fourteen hands at the shoulder, and 

 weighing considerably more than any red deer of the 

 Highlands of Scotland.* He is to be found in all wooded 

 parts of the low country, preferring undulating or hilly 

 ground, and on all the higher hills of the Western Ghauts, 

 Neilgherries, Pulneys, and Annamullays, and it is on the 

 grassy slopes of these ranges that he may best be stalked, 

 which is the most sporting way of securing him. Unfor- 

 tunately, however, this sport is confined to the few hours 

 immediately after sunrise, and from 4 p.m. to sunset. On 

 being wounded, or alarmed, he at once makes for one of 

 the numerous sholahs, which are generally within a mile, 

 and thus ends the stalk for that day, so far as he is 

 concerned, and in this respect it differs from, and falls 

 short of, the sport of the Highlands. He may also be 

 tracked like bison, or be driven in closer jungles, but 

 when this is attempted in the hill sholahs, dogs must 

 be used on account of the dense cover. Driving for 

 sambur has recently been prohibited on the Neilgherries, 

 and it is to be hoped that this restriction may be extended 

 to other districts, subject to certain reservations, such, for 

 instance, as old hinds, crop-destruction, and meat supply 

 for camp. 



Old hinds are undesirable in many ways, and should 

 be thinned out, as is the custom in Scotch deer forest^. 

 * Viz., about forty stone. 



