356 UNGULATES. 



has this cry betrayed a tiger to the sportsmen. The stag's cry is a peculiar moan- 

 ing sort of bellow, and is generally to be heard at night. Immense numbers of 

 spotted deer are frequently met with when beating for tigers, and many are shot 

 off elephants in this way. In long grass it is of course only possible to shoot them 

 from elephants, but however satisfactory it may be to bowl over a stag in full 

 career by a clever snap-shot from the howda, it cannot, in my opinion, compare 

 with the pleasure of stalking and shooting the same animal on foot, where the 

 nature of the country renders it possible." The months of March, April, and May 

 are the best for chital-shooting on foot in the valleys and low hills on the flanks of 

 the Himalaya. Remains of deer apparently nearly allied to the chital are found 

 in the Pliocene formations of the south of France. 



The Sambar Group (Cervus unicolor, etc.). 



Nearly allied to the chital is a group of deer from South-Eastern Asia, dis- 

 tinguished by the brow -tine of the three-pronged antlers forming an acute angle, 

 instead of nearly a right angle, with the beam, as shown in the figures on pp. 340, 353. 

 The majority of this group are peculiar in that they are uniformly coloured at all 

 ages, although in two forms the young are spotted, while in one case this type of 

 coloration persists in the adult. 



The well-known Indian sambar is the largest member of this group, as it is 

 the largest of all the true deer, next to the representatives of the red deer group. 

 External^ the sambar is characterised by its coarse wiry hair, which on the neck 

 and throat of the adult male is elongated to form an erectile mane. The ears are 

 large and broad, and the tail thick and of moderate length. In colour the fur is a 

 nearly uniform dark brown throughout, tending, however, in some individuals to a 

 more or less well-marked yellowish, and in others to a greyish tinge. The chin, 

 under-parts, and inner surfaces of the limbs, are always yellower, and may be 

 yellowish white. In the ordinary form the young are likewise uniformly coloured, 

 but there is said to be a variety in Cachar of which the fawns are spotted. The 

 height of the buck varies from 4 to 5 feet, and possibly rather more at the withers; 

 and large specimens have been killed weighing 560 lbs. (40 stone) and 700 lbs. 

 (51 stone). 



The antlers are generally characterised by their rough external surface, and 

 their freedom from sports ; while in Indian examples the two tines of the terminal 

 fork are nearly equal in length, although in other districts there is great variability 

 in this respect. In India fine horns attain a length of about 36 inches, but these 

 dimensions are seldom reached in the countries to the eastward of the Bay of Bengal. 

 As regards shape and girth, there is a great amount of variation in sambar horns. 

 In a fine pair, of which the extreme length was 38 J inches, the span was 37| inches, 

 and the basal girth 8| inches ; whereas in another pair, while the length was only 

 32 1 inches the span was 38 inches and the girth 9 inches. The longest recorded 

 pair measured 48 inches in length, but their girth at the middle of the beam 

 was only 6 inches, against 8i inches in a pair measuring 38 inches in length. 

 Perhaps, however, the finest known pair is one in which the length is 44 inches, 

 the span 45f inches, and the girth just above the brow-tine 7f inches. There is 



