160 BIG-GAME SHOOTING IN UPPER BURMA 



bullet, and goes off to die a lingering death. 

 Good binoculars are essential, both to make out 

 the deer and to spot the stag, and one must be 

 careful to move on them up wind. 



Thamin are a species of swamp deer, and the 

 stags are very fond of wallowing. Almost every 

 stag shot will be found to have a thick layer of 

 dried mud on his dark coat. In spite of this, 

 thamin are seldom, if ever, found on swampy 

 ground. The stag seems to do his wallowing 

 at night like other deer. The does do not appear 

 to wallow at all. The drier the locality the 

 more likely it is to hold thamin. The Pegu 

 plain is about the only place I know of outside 

 the dry zone where thamin are to be met with, 

 and very few are to be found there now. This 

 deer is essentially a plain's animal, avoiding 

 hilly ground or forest. Thick, open scrub inter- 

 spersed with stunted cactus are its favourite 

 haunts. When much persecuted it may take 

 to bamboo cover at the foot of the hills. 



The stags are very belligerent, and whether 

 it is' due to the peculiar curve of the brow antler, 

 or to their excessive fighting proclivities, the 

 fact remains that a large number are blind in one 

 eye, and many in both. The proportion of old 

 stags who have lost one or both eyes from horn 

 thrusts is, I should say, certainly not less than 

 one in three. The rutting season lasts from 

 February to the end of April, after which the 



