530 



by the snows of winter. An adult stag averages 13 hands in height. 

 The colour of the coat varies but little in the sexes or with the seasons 

 of the year : dark liver-colour, with reddish patches on the inner sides 

 of the hips ; belly and lower parts white, or a dirty white. The 

 male has the hair on the lower surface of the neck long and shaggy 

 (wanting in the female) ; the horns large, and usually very massive, 

 with from 10 to 15 or more points, according to age: the largest 

 pair of horns I have measured were 4 feet round the curves, with 6 

 and 7 points. They are shed in March ; and the new horn is not 

 completely formed until the end of October, when the rutting-season 

 commences, and the loud bellowings of the stags are heard all over 

 the mountains. 



During rigorous winters, they are frequently driven to seek for 

 shelter and food around the villages in the valleys, when many are 

 destroyed by natives, who hunt them with dogs. The Chetah (Felis 

 ■pardus), Wild Dogs, and Bears are said to kill the young. In 

 winter and until the horns are shed, both sexes are found together, 

 generally in large herds. Afterwards they separate, the males 

 roaming about singly, while the females retire to the denser parts 

 of the forests, where they bring forth their young — a spotted calf, 

 which retains its markings until the third or fourth year. The 

 colour of the upper parts of the young specimens is generally more 

 rufous than in the adult, with the spots arranged longitudinally. 

 The species is seldom confined to one locality, but roams from 

 forest to forest, preferring grassy glades alternating with dense 

 forest, where there is a copious supply of water. It it not often 

 seen during the day, and moves about so stealthily, that by moon- 

 light it is difficult to discover its presence when within a few yards 

 of you. It is only during the rutting-season the sportsman is cer- 

 tain of success ; as the decayed twigs crackle under his feet, the 

 noble stag, bellowing, approaches towards him in expectation of 

 meeting a rival or mate. In this way I have known many fiue 

 males killed in the forests near the Shalimar gardens in the Valley 

 of Cashmere. The contents of the infraorbital cavity are much 

 prized by the natives as a medicine for the cure of a hundred ills. 



59. Axis maculata, Brookes. 



Deyrah Doon, common ; but not found in the Punjab, and never 

 on the Western Himalayas. 



60. Hyelaphus porcinus, Sundev. 

 Para of natives and Europeans. 



In the jungles on banks of the Punjab rivers ; Scinde. Common. 



61. Cervulus vaginalis (Bodd.). 



Kakur of the natives on the lower ranges of the Western Hi- 

 malayas. 



" Barking Deer " of Europeans. 



Is generally distributed over the lower ranges of the Western 



