DEER. 



397 



Kansu, on the north-west of China, it is replaced by a nearly allied species 

 (M. sifcmicua), In the Himalaya it is seldom found below elevations of eight 

 thousand feet in summer, and in Sikhim it occurs above twelve thousand feet. 



Musk-deer are found either in pairs or alone, and in the Kashmir 

 Himalaya are generally met with in the birch-forests above the zone 

 of pines. Sometimes, however, they may be seen at lower levels among thick 

 cover. In habits they have been compared by General Kinloch to hares, and, like 

 these animals, they make a " form," in which they lie concealed during the day, 

 their feeding-time being in the morning and evening. Musk-deer seem capable of 

 enduring almost any degree of cold, against which the peculiar nature of their 

 thick fur is doubtless a sufficient protection. In early spring they may be seen 

 among the steep birch-forests around Kashmir, when the ground is deeply buried 

 in snow, making their way from tree to tree in search of the young twigs and buds 

 upon which they then chiefly subsist. On such ground they are very active 

 and sure-footed, their large lateral hoofs being apparently adapted to aid them 

 in obtaining a foothold on hard snow-slopes and smooth slippery rocks. 



General Kinloch states that musk-deer utter a kind of hiss when alarmed, 

 and it is ascertained that when captured they give vent to a series of screams ; with 

 these exceptions they appear to be silent, even in the pairing- season. From 

 observations on some musk-deer kept in captivity in Nipal, it appears that the 

 Bexes come together in January, and that the fawns are bom in June. Usually 

 there is but a single young one at a birth, but occasionally two are produced. 



The musk, which, as already mentioned, is found in the male 



Musk. . . 



alone, when fresh is soft and moist, of a brownish colour, and with a 

 rather unpleasant smell. It soon, however, hardens and dries, and at the same 

 time acquires the all-powerful scent of musk. When removed from the dead 

 animal, the secretion is tied up in a portion of the hairy skin covering the gland, 

 and is then known as a " musk-pod." Each pod will contain on an average about 

 an ounce of musk, and in India will fetch some sixteen rapees in the market. 



English sportsmen hunt musk-deer either by walking through 



the forests they frequent, and carefully examining every ravine and 

 hollow, or by having the jungles driven by natives. On the other hand, the 

 natives themselves capture these little deer in a wholesale manner, which is de- 

 scribed as follows by General Macintyre. " A low fence is made of boughs, etc., 

 along the l-idge of a hill, sometimes a mile or more in length. At intervals of 

 100 or 150 yards are gaps. The musk-deer, crossing the ridge from one valley 

 to another, come across this fence, and, to save themselves the trouble of jumping 

 over it, walk alongside until, seeing a little gap, they try to go through it. But 

 in each gap a noose of strong string is placed on the ground and tied to a stout 

 sapling bent downwards. The noose is so arranged that, when the deer tread 

 inside it, the sapling is loosed and flies back, leaving the noose tied tightly round 

 the animal's leg. The people visit these fences every two or three days, and secure 

 the deer thus caught, and repair the fences and nooses, which are often carried 

 away or destroyed by larger game." In spite of the constant persecution to which 

 they are subject, musk-deer are still fairly common in many parts of the Himalaya, 

 where they are known by the name of kastura. 



