1867.] LIEUT. R. C. DEAVAN ON THE TANOLIA DEER. 703 



cat the meat, because they think it will bring on cholera. It is rarely 

 brought into Moulniein. In the country the wholesale price* of a 

 doe is rupees 3, a buck is rupees 4, which is of course less than the 

 usual retail bazaar rate. The flesh is said to smell a little about the 

 end of March, when the weather is very hot ; it is best for food 

 about November and December. 



The range of the Panolia Deer, according to Mr. Davis, is as fol- 

 lows : — In the Martaban district they inhabit exclusively the open 

 grassy plains between the sea and the mountains. In the Pegu plains 

 they are perhaps more abundant than in any other part of Burmah ; 

 next to these the Yengyaing plain in Martaban produces most ; near 

 Rangoon they are found in the Dallah plain. About Pegu and Yeng- 

 yaing they are found in herds of from fifty to a hundred in the month 

 of March; but when hunted they congregate much more, and as 

 many as two hundred may then be seen together. In habits they 

 are essentially gregarious, and associate with no other sjjecies, 

 although Hog-deer abound in the grass and jungle along the edges 

 of the plain ; nor will they allow the tame BuiFaloes to come nearer 

 to them than about 100 yards. In habits they are very wary and 

 difficult of approach, especially the males. They are also very timid, 

 and easily startled ; the males, however, when wounded and brought 

 to bay with dogs get very savage and charge vigorously. On being 

 disturbed they invariably make for the open, instead of resorting to 

 the heavy jungle like Hog-deer and Sambur. In fact the Thamyn 

 is essentially a plain-loving species ; and, although it will frequent 

 tolerably open tree-jungle, for the sake of its shade, it will never 

 venture into dense or matted underwood — i. e. " bush-jungle," in 

 contradistinction to "tree-jungle." 



Indeed I was credibly informed of a large stag which, being driven 

 into a corner of the plain last year by herd-boys with pariah dogs, 

 and finding no means of escajjc, took refuge in heavy jungle, where 

 its horns got entangled in an Hibkcus bush, and so was actually cap- 

 tured alive. Its captors, however, soon put an end to its existence 

 with a sharp "dhar." 



When first started the pace of the Thamyn is great. It com- 

 mences by giving three or four large bounds like the Axis or Spotted 

 Deer, and afterwards settles down into a long trot, which it will keep 

 up for six or seven miles on end when frequently disturbed. This 

 is when the vegetation on the plain is comparatively short. In the 

 rains they do not go far before they find a hiding-place in the long 

 paddy. Their powers of leaping are highly developed. On the 

 Yengyaing plain alone there are at the present time about a thou- 

 sand head, on tlie Thatong plain, a little further to the north-west, 

 perhaps a hundred head only, which go about in small herds of seven 

 and eight. At Yengyaing the annual number killed amounts to 

 about forty-five, including those bagged by Europeans ; and about 

 five natives gain their livelihood in that place almost entirely by the 

 sale of its flesh. They are least gregarious in the rainy weather. 

 The females have mostly then retired in twos and threes into quiet 

 * The price quoted is what a shikany usually expects to realize. 



