292 Animal Life 
is a type of colouring correlated with leafy surroundings and the bright lght of the 
temperate zone in summer and of the tropics at all times of the year. Those who 
may doubt this statement have only to watch a herd of fallow deer reposing in 
summer beneath some spreading oak in an Hnelish park, when they cannot fail 
to realize how close is the harmony between the colouring of these beautiful animals 
and the chequered shade of the ground on which they le. That very distinct species 
the Persian fallow deer likewise changes its dappled summer livery for a uniformly 
fawn dress in winter. And the same is the case with the handsome Peking deer of 
Northern Manchuria and its smaller relative, the Japanese deer of Japan and Manchuria. 
Both these species are quite different from the fallow deer, and more nearly allied 
to the red deer. On the other hand, their representative inhabiting the tropical island 
of Formosa, retains its spots at all seasons. 
There are other kinds of deer, such as the Indian sambar and the elk of the 
northern temperate and sub-arctic 
zones, which prefer the deepest 
recesses of their native forests, 
shunning the bright sunlight, and 
only venturing out in the open to 
graze when the shades of evening 
are far advanced. Such _ species 
have not only discarded the white 
spots of their ancestors, but have 
likewise changed the ancestral fawn 
or rufous ground-colour for a uni- 
form coat of shaggy brown hair. 
How inconspicuous are such som- 
brely-clad animals in their native 
thickets, is not difficult to imagine 
in a certain degree, although it 
requires actual experience to realize 
fully thei invisibility. That elk 
and sambar have taken to this 
secluded and semi-nocturnal mode 
of life for incalculable ages is 
demonstrated by the fact that they 
are some of the few deer whose Photograph by Miss EH. J. Beck. 
young are normally unspotted. SOEMME ik RING'S GAZELLE OF SOWIE AND. 
5 Showing light under-parts and recognition-patch. 
Nevertheless, we have evidence that 
these animals have sprung from spotted ancestors, since the young of the American 
elk occasionally shows faint dappling, while in the Malay representative of the sambar 
the fawns are distinctly spotted. 
Few animals are more brilliantly coloured than the members of that African 
group of antelopes which includes the kudus, bushbucks and the bongo, one of the 
most brilliant of all being the last named, of which a magnificent example has been 
recently added to the collection of the Natural History Museum. On a fawn or 
bright rufous ground-colour, most of these antelopes are marked with narrow white 
vertical stripes, as well as with white spots and a chevron on the face and a white 
gorget on the throat. Such colouring strikes the uninitiated as being of a most 
conspicuous nature, as indeed it is when the animals are removed from their natural 
surroundings. Nevertheless, in their native thickets—and we know from the large size 
of their ears, to say nothing of what we learn from the reports of sportsmen and 
