THE LIFE OF MAMMALS 
(it has, for instance, a gall bladder, possessed by bovine 
Musk ruminants but not by cervine), is the musk deer 
ere of the highlands of central Asia, from Kashmir 
to Cochin China. 
This is the source of true musk, the product of a large gland beneath 
the skin of the hinder part of the abdomen of the male, connected with 
sexual functions. When fresh, 
musk looks like moist ginger- 
bread, and forms the basis of 
many manufactured perfumes; 
hence the ‘‘pods,” as the ex- 
cised glands are called, bring a 
high price in market, and the 
deer, despite their almost inac- 
cessible homes and great wari- 
ness, are growing scarce. The 
musk deer is a strange, old- 
fashioned, solitary little creature, 
the size of a half-grown kid, and 
having very large ears, almost 
no tail, and no horns, but wear- 
ing a pair of keen weapons in 
the long upper canines which 
hang well down below the lower 
jaw. The four toes of the feet 
are almost equal, and the hoofs 
so free that they can fairly grasp 
any projection, so that it is not surprising to be told that the animal is a 
marvel of agility and sure-footedness. The long, pithy, and brittle hair is 
dull gray-brown, but fawns are spotted at first. 
Musk DEER. 
Other quaint little Eastern deer are the reddish water deer 
of the reed beds along the Yangtse River, which are singular 
in producing five or six young at a time; and the 
small, blackish, Chinese ‘tufted deer,” peculiar in 
having a pencil of stiff hairs standing upright on the top of 
the head, and half hiding the long pedicels tipped with minute 
stubs of horns. A little in advance of them come the muntjacs, 
304 
Muntjacs. 
