78 



THE TWO-TOED ARTIODACTYLA. 



herds. They prefer the woods, are shy and 

 sudden in their movements, but the males 

 become quarrelsome and even ferocious in 

 the rutting season, when they utter loud 

 bellowings and carry on furious battles with 

 one another. The family is distributed over 

 the whole of the Old and New Worlds as 

 far as the limit of forests, occasionally even 

 beyond that 

 limit,andevery- 

 where they are 

 the objects of 

 keen pursuit, 

 for the sake of 

 their tender 

 flesh, their hide, 

 which furnishes 

 pretty good lea- 

 ther, and even 

 their antlers, 

 which are used 

 in the making 

 of instruments 

 and works of 

 art. The fe- 

 males have four 

 teats, but sel- 



t J • f J.U ^'S- ^59' — Ihe Muntjac (Co-vuliis munijac) 



more than one young one at a time. Hearing 

 is the most highly developed of all the senses ; 

 the intelligence is very slight. Beautiful, 

 but stupid! is the motto for them. 



The very numerous family of the deer has 

 been divided into genera and sub-genera, 

 regard being had, in making these sub- 

 divisions, chiefly to the form of the antlers, 

 which are sometimes simple spikes, sometimes 

 forked, branched, or .spatulate— expanded 

 somewhat like a spade. The distinctions are, 

 however, very slight, so that no great value 

 can be attached to these subdivisions. From 

 these groups we select a few characteristic or 

 specially interesting species. 



Through the pos.session of large project- 

 ing canines by the male and the absence of 

 bunches of hair on the soles of the hind-feet 



the Muntjac (Ccrvtilus iminfjac), fig. 159, also 

 called by the natives Kidang, approaches the 

 musk-deer, while in all other characters it 

 is a member of the true deer family. The 

 muntjac lives on the Great Sunda Islands, 

 Borneo, Java, and Sumatra; an allied but 

 little-known species inhabits India. These 

 pretty deer, of the size of our roe, are distin- 

 guished by the 

 structure of the 

 antlers, the vel- 

 vet-clad por- 

 tions of which 

 begin in the 

 form of two 

 strong lateral 

 bony ridges on 

 the nose, and 

 rise free above 

 the brow to a 

 height equal to 

 about half the 

 length of the 

 head. At a 

 point a little 

 way above the 

 burr there rises 

 a short brow- 

 tine, while the stem or beam is continued in 

 a form like that of a bow with the concavity 

 inwards. The fawns are spotted; the adult 

 animals have a brownish-yellow coat, with 

 two white spots on the throat; the tear-pits 

 are very large and surmounted by tufts of 

 hair. The males live solitary in the woods, 

 associating with the females only in the 

 breeding season, are very courageous, and 

 can defend themselves very well against dogs 

 with their horns and teeth. In confinement 

 they are subject to accesses of fury which 

 may prove dangerous at times. 



South America nourishes several species 

 of small deer about equal in size to our roe- 

 deer, but even more slimly built. These are 

 distinguished by the name of brockets (genus 

 Subulo) on account of their small, somewhat 



