THE CHEETAL AND THE PARAH. 183 



reptile ; nothing but some hog-deer (Axis porcinus), called 

 " parah " or " dhoter " by the natives an animal about the 

 size of a roe-deer, and not unlike it in its grey winter coat. 

 The buck carries pretty horns, averaging about 14 inches 

 long, with two short upper tines on each horn, and one brow 

 antler, also short and pointing upwards. This deer usually 

 frequents open tracts of long grass and marshy ground, and is 

 very plentiful in the Terai and Dehra Doon. It affords capital 

 shooting from elephant-back, after the jungle conflagrations 

 in spring, when it can be beaten out into the open from the 

 unburnt patches of long grass. As the shots are almost in- 

 variably running ones, it requires sharp and pretty shooting 

 with the rifle to hit such a small mark. 



The spotted deer (Axis maculatus), or cheetal, is very com- 

 mon in the same localities in fact in almost all Indian 

 forests, from the base of the Himalayas to the sea-coast. It 

 affects thick cover in the forests, or tracts of long grass in 

 their immediate vicinity. In height it stands about 3 feet at 

 the shoulder. Its colour somewhat resembles that of the 

 fallow-deer, but the white spots are more clearly defined, and 

 on a darker ground. The ordinary length of its fully de- 

 veloped horns is about 30 inches. They have a very graceful 

 sweep, with three regular tines on each horn, and sometimes 

 an extra snag or two beside the brow antlers. The longest 

 pair I ever got were 37 inches before I peeled off the velvet 

 with which they were covered, and as the tips were quite 

 soft, they would probably have grown another inch. The 

 span was 30 inches, and 4 inches the circumference of beam 

 clear of velvet. They seldom, I think, grow much longer 

 than this, although sometimes slightly thicker. Spotted deer 

 appear to have no regular time for shedding their horns. I 

 have noted in my shooting -journal having killed them in 

 January with horns fully developed, but in velvet I also 

 i in* I one as having been shot with horns in exactly the same 

 state in April ; and I shot one on 26th February a date, be 



