IS. The M Shous " or Big-horned Deer of Tibet. 



By Lieut.-Col. J. Manners-Smith, V.C., C.V.O., CLE. 



[Presented at the First Indian Science Congress. January 16, 1914.] 



[With Plates XV— XVII.] 



In writing about the above animals I must disclaim at 

 once any pretension of being a Scientific Naturalist. In regard 

 to such points as relate to technical questions of species structure 

 and so forth, I must refer to the accepted authorities, who have 

 written and described the various species before, and shall rely 

 particularly on the accounts given by Brian Houghton Hodg- 

 son 60 to 70 years ago, and as recently as 1912 by R. I. 

 Pocock, F.R.S., of the Zoological Society's Gardens in London. 



The name ' fc Shou ' * is I believe used by the Tibetans 

 indiscriminately for the 3 species of deer about to be described. 

 It has been my good fortune, owing to the interest taken by 

 my friend His Highness Maharaja Sir Chandra Shumshere Jang, 

 the ruling Prime Minister of Nepal, in these splendid creatures, 

 to have had the opportunity of seeing and examining live 

 specimens of each species besides a considerable number of 

 horns and skins belonging to the first named. 



Taking the Shou in order the three kinds are — 



(1) The stag known to Natural History as "Cervus wal- 



lichii." 



(2) The stag named by Hodgson " Cervus affinis. 



(3) Thorod's deer or " Cervus albirostris." 



For a scientific description of these species it is only neces- 

 sary to refer to Mr. Pocock 's full and careful paper No 30 of 

 the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1912. 

 The stag (Cervus wallichii) which is the principal subject of 

 his paper was imported into Nepal in 1909, and was kept at 

 large at an elevation of about 6000' from that time until 



> ? 



presented to His Majesty the King-Emperor in December, 1911, 

 with a collection of other Nepalese and Himalayan animals. 

 In this connection I would also refer to the notes by Brian 

 Hodgson No. 5 of the Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society, 

 dated 1551, and No. 117, dated 1841. The earlier note was 

 written while Hodgson was still the British Resident in Nepal, 

 but the later one about 7 years after he had retired from 

 that post, and taken up his abode in Darjiling in order to 

 carry on his natural history and other scientific work. 



