THE SAL FORESTS 313 



Here they show a tendency to approach, the Rusine type, 

 to which belong the sambar and the axis, the beam being 

 first divided into a terminal fork, each branch of which 

 afterwards spUts into several points. Usually the out- 

 ward or anterior branch bears three such points, and the 

 inward or posterior two, making, with the brow-antler, 

 six points on each horn. Very old stags sometimes have 

 more; but, as in the Rusinm, when there are more than 

 three the extra ones are abnormal monstrosities, and the 

 antlers are usually unsymmetrical and stunted in size. 

 The horns are grayish in colour, and of a smoother surface 

 than those of the sambar. They are not nearly so massive, 

 nor so long, but have a very handsome outward sweep, 

 which renders them, I think, more effective as a trophy 

 for the deerstalker. They are very difl&cult to procure 

 fully developed and perfect. They are cast more regularly, 

 I think, than those of the Rusince ; and as the stags seem 

 to be very combative, some of the points are usually 

 broken off after they lose the velvet at the close of the 

 rainy season, when their haunts first become accessible 

 to the sportsman. In form the Rucervus is one of the 

 most beautiful of the family — ^hghtly and gracefully made, 

 and with a stately carriage; and altogether, with his 

 splendid golden colour and finely shaped antlers, this stag 

 is not surpassed, I think, in appearance, by any member 

 of the deer tribe. 



This animal has been called in north-eastern India 

 the " swamp deer," but here he is not observed to be 

 particularly partial to swampy ground. They graze in 

 the mornings and evenings, chiefly along the smaller 

 streams, and by springs, where the grass is green, in the 

 open valleys, and rest during the day about the skirts 

 of the sal forest. A favourite midday resort is in the 

 shade of the clumps of sal dotted about the open plain, 

 at some distance from the heavy forest. They are not 

 nearly so nocturnal in habits as the sambar, being often 

 found out grazing late in the forenoon, and again early 

 in the afternoon; and I do not think they wander about 

 aU night like the sambar. Their midday rest is usually 

 .of a few hours only, but during that time they conceal 



