326 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol IX, 



NOTES ON THE THAMIN OR BROW-ANTLERED 

 DEER {CERVUS ELDIl). 



By Vet.-Capt. G. H. Evans. 



{With a Plate) 



{Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on 2%th 

 January, 1895.) 



These beautiful creatures are essentially a plains-loving species of 

 deer, and are found in this country from the valley of the Chindwin 

 River as far as Tenasserim. They may be seen in large numbers on 

 the immense plains of Lower Burma, which lie between the hills and 

 the sea. The chief characteristics of the forest on these plains are the 

 dense, almost impenetrable, growth of elephant grass (called Kaing 

 by the Burmese), and the remarkable scarcity of trees amongst it ; 

 the few that are seen usually grow at great distances from one another 

 and are low, very often only slightly higher than the surrounding grass. 

 The stems are short and the tops irregularly developed, which features 

 are, no doubt, in a great measure, due to the injuries the trees suffer 

 from fires during certain times of the year, and also to the fact that the 

 roots are damaged by excess of moisture during the rains. Those most 

 commonly met with are the Butea frondosa, Zizyphus jujuba, Streblus 

 asper, Nauclea sessifolia, Lagerstrcemia flos-regince, and the Strych- 

 nos nux-vomica. The soil appears to be perfect for elephant grasses, 

 as in many places they attain an immense height, and the halms are 

 frequently as thick and woody as those of certain small kinds of 

 bamboos. A man standing on the rails of a high bullock-cart is 

 easily concealed by these grasses. The more common varieties found 

 are the Saccharum spontaneunij Saccharum procerutn, Polytoca 

 heteroclita, Imperata cylindrica, and several varieties of Arundinaria. 

 Generally there is little or no scrub jungle about, but occasionally a 

 few bushes of the Hibiscus order may be observed along the banks of 

 a tidal creek. The plains, except where broken up by belts of jungle,, 

 or intersected by tidal creeks, extend for many miles along the coast^ 

 the fore-shore of which is, for a mile or two inland, covered with a belt 

 of mangrove forest. As far as I am aware, Thamin never enter it, nor 

 have I heard of them in the hills, or taking to heavy jungle, by which 

 I mean jungle where the undergrowth is very dense and tangled. 



