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Remarks on the Moschus Memina. By Lieut. S. R. Tickell. 



Geoffroy's Cuvier, Memina (Knox's Ceylon), Tragulus Memina (Boddaert), 

 Indian Musk (Pennant), Chevrotain d peau de marqueb laches blanches 

 (Buffon) Miigee (in Hindustani) (Yar Kole), Gandwa (Oaria.) 



The present drawing was taken from a stuffed specimen 

 which I had previously kept alive for several months.* It 

 was brought to me when quite young, and about 9 or 10 in- 

 ches long, by a Kole woman, who, while gathering sticks in 

 the jungle had surprised a pair of them among some rocks, 

 and secured one in a basket, which she threw over the 

 animal before it could escape. The other dived under the 

 rocks and was lost. 



Its disposition was tame and unsuspecting, and it was easily 

 reared by suckling a goat, which it learned to do without 

 difficulty until strong enough to shift for itself, when it 

 readily ate Doob, and other sorts of grass. It was playful 

 at times, especially during the cool of the mornings, frisking 

 about like a kid, but did not show the agility possessed by 

 other kinds of Deer. The stride of the animal is limited 

 from the great curvature of the back, the legs appearing 

 drawn together or tucked under the body. During the heat 

 of the day it remained concealed* dozing behind some box, 

 and towards evening its faint plaintive bleating might be 

 heard ere it emerged in quest of food. Sometimes when be- 

 ing patted or played with, it emitted a different tone, like 

 the grunting of a rabbit. 



* Lieut. Tickell has not favoured us with the drawing alluded to, 

 disappointed no doubt with our Calcutta lithographies of subjects 

 of this nature. Even a bad impression is perhaps better than none, 

 especially of objects that have not hitherto been faithfully figured. 

 If our native artists are ever to be improved, it must be by bold exam- 

 ples of drawing, such as Lieut. Tickell's. Under these circumstances 

 we trust that we shall be occasionally favoured with his spirited sketches, 

 while we promise to devote more attention in future to this very 

 essential department of a Journal of Natural History. — Ed. 



