THE CHEETUL OR SPOTTED DEER. 483 



resting in the fork of the horns of the other, No. 1. The other I call 

 No. 2. The heads are not exactly opposite each other ; the forehead 

 of No. 1 is opposite the right horn of No. 2. The left brow antler of 

 No. 1 is driven over the right brow antler of No. 2, so that the latter 

 is slightly under the burr of the horn of the former. The right brow 

 antler of No. 1, is under the left brow antler of No. 2 for half its 

 length. The right antler of No. 1, which is a switch horn, rests in the 

 fork of the left antler of No. 2. The left antler of No. 1 rests in the 

 fork of the right antler of No. 2. The inner point of No. 1 being 

 securely wedged behind the inner point of the antler of No. 2. 

 It will be seen that if the skulls could move sideways the brow antlers 

 would be at once unlocked, but this is prevented by the locking of the 

 horns at the upper points. If the antlers were sawn off just below the 

 upper forks, the skulls could be moved sideways in opposite directions 

 and the brow antlers unlocked. If the skulls could be moved back- 

 wards from each other, the upper forks of the horns of No. 2 could be 

 drawn clear of the horns of No. 1, but this is made impossible by the 

 position and curve of the brow antlers. If the head of No. 2 could be 

 drawn down, or the head of No. 1 drawn up, the upper points would be 

 disengaged, but the position of the brow antlers again prevents this. 

 In fact the horns are immoveable and no one could pull them apart 

 unless he sawed off the antlers below the upper forks, or sawed 

 off one brow antler from each head. What has assisted the locking 

 of the horns in this way is that the horns are about the same length, 

 they are about the same span at the fork of the upper points, and the 

 horns of each fork about the same height. The length of horn of 

 No. 1 is — left horn 32 inches, right horn SI inches. The inside span 

 of the horns at the upper points is 16 inches. The length of horn of 

 No. 2 is — left horn 33 inches, right horn 3o| inches. The span is 

 17 inches. The brow antlers of No. 1 measure 10 inches ; those of 

 No. 2, 13 inches. The horns of No. 1 are quite smooth along the 

 front, and almost smooth along the sides and back of the antlers. 

 I never saw so smooth a horn on a Cheetul. 



The longest Cheetul horn mentioned in Ward's Book of Horn Mea- 

 surements is 37| inches. Forsyth mentions one of 38 inches, and Blan- 

 ford one of 38| inches. 1 have not weighed a Cheetul myself, but from 

 a note I took from some weights given in the " Field " several years 

 ago, I find it was there stated that one Cheetul stag weighed 190 lbs., 

 another 175 lbs., two Cheetul does weighed 105 and 100 lbs. respect- 



