SOME BIG GAME. 219 



the case with many other kinds, no more than nine points 

 having been found as a rule. The Japanese sika weighs 

 about 1801b. It has a Manchurian relative which is some- 

 what taller, and another, known as the Peking Sika (Cerviis 

 hortiilonim), which stands about 4 ft. Of this species a ten- 

 pointer has been killed. In Formosa many years ago, 

 Swinhoe was the discoverer of the Formosan sambar, 

 (C. unicolor Swinhoei) of which a specimen in the 

 British Museum gives the following measurements — Length 

 of horn, 1 ft. 7f in : tip to tip, 9 in., points, 3 and 3. 

 A bigger sambar than this is, however, found in Szechwan, 

 but it is little known in Europe. There are other species 

 of deer found in the south, the little muntjac or barking 

 deer, for example; but the most interesting to Shanghai 

 residents because the only one found in the immediate 

 neighbourhood, is the improperly so-called hog-deer, (Hydro- 

 potes inennis,) for the original description of which we are, I 

 believe, again indebted to Swinhoe. For complete accounts 

 of this interesting animal, the reader is referred once more 

 to "With Boat and Gun." Mr. Wade says, "A fair average 

 weight for a river deer is 22 lb.", and European sportsmen 

 will probably be astonished when they are told that '' No. 8 

 shot is quite large enough to knock over a deer at 25 yards." 

 I have shot them with No. 5 myself. As its name implies, 

 the " water-drinking " deer is " unarmed," that is hornless, 

 but he is provided with a pair of dependent tusks in the 

 upper jaw which measure three or four inches and are 

 sometimes very sharp. I have turned this little deer out of 

 all sorts of places, but have never been able to study it, 

 myself unseen. Once I saw a little herd of five or six on 

 the " Hashing plain " whilst it was yet in the wild state in 

 which the Taiping rebellion left it, and was much interested 

 in watching their antics. They were well out of danger 

 when they saw me, but they moved off, flinging their heels 

 high in the air after the manner of a frisky colt. From 

 2,000 to 3,000 per annum, Mr. Wade tells us, find their way 

 to the Shanghai market. 



From the graceful deer to the clumsy pig is a far 

 cry. But in China the pig is, as in Europe, fair game 

 for the gun, and not, as in India, specially reserved for 

 " sticking." How much dift'erence there is between Stis 

 acrofa the European wild boar, and Stis cristatits, his 

 Indian brother, is a matter of dispute between modern 

 naturalists, but Mr. Lydekker thinks them specifically 

 distinct. Our Chinese representative, which rejoices in 

 the name of Stis leucomystax, the white-whiskered boar, 

 may also be a separate species. But the whole matter 

 demands scientific research. In place of that in this con- 



