THE DEER FAMILY. 



79 



curved, pointed antlers without tines. An 

 illustration is given of the commonest species, 

 the Red Brocket {Subulo {Cariacus) ru/us), 

 fig. 1 60, which has a coat of a brilliant reddish- 

 brown colour on the back and reddish-yellow 

 underneath. This very timid animal lives in 

 pairs in the densest parts of the forests of 

 Brazil and Guiana. The tail is short, the 

 tear-pits are slightly developed. Canines are 

 present only in the 

 young males. 



Our Common Roe 

 {Capreohis vulgaris 

 {caprcea) ), which is 

 represented in PI. 

 XXIV., is the type 

 of a group charac- 

 terized by having 

 short strong antlers 

 with a thick, round, 

 straight beam, the 

 end of which forks 

 one or more times 

 with increasing age. 

 The tear-pits are 

 scarcely indicated, 

 the tail is only a 



Fig 



stump, the canines are present only in the 

 young males. The roe -deer lives in small 

 troops scattered over all Europe. A larger 

 variety extends over Central Asia as far as 

 China. The general colour is brownish-gray. 

 The very stiff fur is shorter and redder in 

 summer, longer and grayer in winter. There 

 is a white patch on the hips behind known 

 to hunters as the speculum. The males in 

 the rutting season are very combative and 

 challenge one another with a peculiar cry, 

 which in hunting is sometimes imitated by 

 means of a small instrument placed in the 

 mouth. The roebuck imagines that he hears 

 the voice of a rival and at once dashes to 

 meet him. At other times the roe is a timid 

 animal, hiding by day in the dense parts of 

 the forest, but preferring the neighbourhood 

 of open glades and fields. The troops go 



out only at night under the leadership of an 

 old male. The roe yields us the most highly 

 esteemed kind of game. The pregnancy of 

 the female presents an exceptional condition 

 like that which we have already observed in 

 bats. The ovum is impregnated in July and 

 August, but only in November does it begin 

 to develop, and the young are born in May. 

 Roes have often been tamed, but the instances 



have remained isol- 

 ated, since the bucks 

 ' become very ill-tem- 

 pered as they grow 

 old. 



The members of 

 the genus Blasto- 

 ceros (sometimes in- 

 cluded in the genus 

 Cariacus) take the 

 place of our roe-deer 

 in S. America. The 

 commonest species, 

 the Pampas Deer, or 

 Guazui of the natives 

 {Bl. {Cariacus) cam- 

 pestris), is repre- 

 sented in fig. 161. 

 They are distinguished from the roes by their 

 longer tail and larger and thinner antlers, 

 which besides the terminal peak carry two or 

 three long, thin, and sharp-pointed tines. 

 The species represented is of the size of a 

 small fallow-deer, with very long slender legs. 

 The under parts are white, and the eyes are 

 surrounded by white rings. This pretty 

 creature prefers the pampas and treeless 

 steppes, which, however, are covered with- 

 tall grasses in which it hides by day. It is 

 easily tamed, and becomes very confiding, 

 but the male in the rutting season has such 

 a penetrating and clinging smell that it be- 

 comes a very disagreeable guest, while its 

 flesh is rendered quite unpalatable. 



In the East Indies there are numerous 

 forms allied to those just described, forms in 

 which the antlers attain the length, and 



160.— The Red Brocket [Subulo ru/us). 



