192 DEER. 



are fairly numerous in the Nirmul and Pakhal districts 

 of the Nizam's dominions. The bulls are about 14^ hands 

 at the shoulder, the fore legs are comparatively short, and 

 the weight should be GOOlb. They are of a slatey blue 

 colour, with dark mane, and a tuft of hair hangs from the 

 throat, the face being brownish ; smooth horns, less than 

 9 inches long, and a dewlap ; the skin of which is very 

 thick, and used for shields. He is more of an ox than an 

 antelope, the females are of a reddish brown colour, and 

 smaller than the males, the flesh is indifferent, but the 

 tongue and marrow bones are esteemed as delicacies. A 

 solitary bull is worth stalking, but on the whole not much 

 sport is afforded by this animal. 



They may sometimes be found in rideable country, or 

 may be driven to it and speared, but such an opportunity 

 never occurred to me. The axis, spotted deer or cheetul, 

 is essentially a deer of the woods, never being seen in the 

 maidan country, except in the vicinity of jungle. They 

 prefer park-like forest near water, studded with thick 

 clumps of jungle, and are not to be found above 4000 feet 

 elevation. The lower slopes of the Southern Indian hills 

 is the ground par excellence for them, and here they may 

 be stalked without much difficulty, provided attention be 

 given to the wind. With this deer, driving is better sport 

 than stalking, and at Santawerry we often got sambur and 

 jungle sheep, as well as spotted deer, on such occasions. 

 Panthers, too, were sometimes turned out, and in some of 

 the beats a gun loaded with No. 3 shot was used for the 

 jungle and spur fowl which abounded there. It was a 

 more suitable weapon than a 12 -bore rifle for jungle sheep 

 and mouse deer, so the custom was to load with ball 

 cartridge at the commencement of the beats, when the 

 larger animals were generally on foot, substituting the shot 



