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POPULAR OFFICIAL GUIDE. 



AXIS DEER. 



also more strikingly colored. The latter species, shown in 

 our northernmost corral, is about 33 inches in height, and of 

 a dull and uninteresting smoky-brown color. Its antlers 

 are quite large for a deer so small, and in the mating season 

 males are sometimes dangerous. This species is very hardy, 

 breeds persistently, requires no heat in winter, and very 

 rarely sends a case to the hospital. 



The Fallow Deer, (Dama vulgaris), is the type of a dis- 

 tinct group of deer which are distinguished by the posses- 

 sion of antlers widely palmated throughout the upper half 

 of the beam. In some old Fallow bucks the antlers are 

 quite moose-like, and give this small deer an imposing ap- 

 pearance far out of proportion to its actual size. The 

 weight of a large buck in prime condition generally is be- 

 tween 180 and 200 pounds, and its shoulder height is 

 between 36 and 40 inches. The largest antlers recorded 

 by Mr. J. G. Millais, in his beautiful work on "The British 

 Deer," measured 29 V 2 inches in length, 28 T A inches spread, 

 width of palmation 8 inches, and the number of points 14. 

 The extinct Irish elk, with the most colossal antlers ever 

 carried by a cervine animal, was a near relative of the 

 two living species of Fallow Deer. 



Although a native of northern Africa and the north shore 

 of the Mediterranean, the Fallow Deer was acclimatized in 



