144 BIG-GAME SHOOTING IN UPPER BURMA 



his sense of hearing appear to be particularly 

 acute, except when lying up — a time when all 

 beasts are very much on the alert. Old stags, 

 like the Indian sambur, are often solitary; but 

 I am inclined to think that, with the exception 

 of those whose horns are dwindling from age, 

 and who are therefore out of the running, so 

 to speak, these animals rejoin their herds during 

 the rutting season, or, at all events, attach them- 

 selves to another herd. The horns are usually 

 shed about April, but occasionally old stags 

 retain their horns for two seasons or more. 

 The rut commences about November and con- 

 tinues throughout the cold weather. The young, 

 sometimes two at a birth, are born during the 

 latter part of the rains. The only difference 

 the writer has been able to notice between the 

 Indian sambur and C. equinus is in the colour 

 of the coat. The Malayan sambur appears to 

 be the darker of the two. I have shot old 

 stags almost black in colour — much darker than 

 any I have seen in India. 



There is one peculiarity about the sambur, 

 whether C. unicolor or C. equinus, which has 

 seldom been noticed, and yet is so striking 

 that it calls for some remark. I allude to the 

 raw spot half way up on the throat, perfectly 

 circular in shape, and always in the same place. 

 It is common to no other deer that I know of, 

 but every wild sambur has it, whether stag, 



