26 THE GOORKHA '' KOOKERIE. 



horns of divers lengths, from a little sprout above the bu: 

 to their fully developed size, strange to say I have never 

 found them in velvet. From this I am inclined to think 

 they do not shed their horns regularly like other horn- 

 bearing Cervidse (excepting the " cheetal" or spotted deer — 

 Axis maculatus — which drops its horns very irregularly, as 

 I shall hereafter endeavour to show), even if they do so at 

 all. But upon this point I cannot speak with certainty. The 

 upper jaw of the buck is provided with a pair of sharp canine 

 teeth, which sometimes project quite half an inch over the 

 lower lips. For what use they are intended is uncertain. An 

 old shikaree, whose veracity I had no reason to doubt, told 

 me that he had once come upon two bucks fighting : one of 

 them was soon left disabled on the ground, when he observed 

 it had a deep cut in its back, evidently made by the tooth 

 of its opponent, but whether purposely or accidentally he 

 could not tell. This pretty little animal is most frequently 

 found in thick cover interspersed with patches of cultivation. 

 In the latter it may often be found feeding very early in the 

 morning or late in the evening, but generally so close to the 

 cover that in the grey dawn or twilight it is often not detected 

 until the white of its stern is seen bobbing away into the 

 bushes, from whence its short sharp bark comes at intervals, 

 as if deriding its pursuer for not having kept a better look- 

 out. When hurrying off, it sometimes makes a succession 

 of clicking sounds, but whether with the teeth or hoofs I 

 have never been able to ascertain. The doe is similar to 

 the buck, with the exception of the continuations of tlio 

 frontal bone, the horns, and long teeth. 



We had foolishly brought no tent with us, having in- 

 tended to get our men to extemporise some sort of shelter 

 of boughs and grass cut with their "kookeries," — those 

 useful national weapons which the Goorkhas invariably 

 carry, and use as much for domestic as for fighting purposes. 

 But we had not even that to protect us from the heavy 

 night dew, as on our return from fishing we found that 





