NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK. 67 



They are sheltered by four houses, the largest of which 

 crowns the summit of the hill on the right of Osborn 

 Walk as the visitor enters from Fordham. For the visitors' 

 convenience we will make note of the various species about 

 in the order of their appearance, and not in zoological se- 

 quence. 



The Axis Deer, (Axis axis), is the handsomest of all the 

 tropical deer. Indeed, it may even be said to be the only 

 species of the tropics possessing both form and pelage which 

 are alike pleasing to the eye. In contrast with the many 

 beautiful and splendidly colored antelopes of Africa, the 

 deer of the tropics, all round the world, are poorly provided 

 with those characters which make a handsome animal. 

 With the sole exception of the Axis Deer, nearly all the 

 other deer of the East Indies have thin, coarse, dull-colored 

 hair, their antlers are small, and seldom have more than four 

 points. This is equally true of the deer of Mexico, Central 

 and South America. Even our own white-tailed deer, so 

 lusty and fine in the North, becomes in Florida and Texas so 

 dwarfed that it has now been called a subspecies. 



Considering the severe plainness of all the other deer in 

 the tropics, it is a little strange that the coat of the Axis 

 should be the most beautiful possessed by any deer. But it 

 is quite true ; and apart from the majesty of the elk, there 

 is no more beautiful sight in cervine life than the picture 

 offered by a herd of Axis Deer feeding in a sunlit glade 

 surrounded by forest. 



This species adapts itself to out-door life in the temperate 

 zone with surprising readiness, not even second in that 

 respect to the eland. As a matter of course the Axis can not 

 withstand the fierce blizzards of midwinter as do the elk 

 and other northern deer; but a reasonable degree of care 

 in providing it with a dry barn, and shelter from cold winds, 

 enables it to live even as far north as northern Germany 

 with perfect comfort. In winter our Axis Deer barn is mod- 

 erately heated by a stove. 



The Japanese Sika Deer, (Cervus sika typicus), is a small 

 representative of a large group of deer species inhabiting 

 far-eastern Asia, and known as the Sika Deer group. A 

 ridiculous number of forms have been described as species 

 and subspecies, of which possibly one-third are entitled to 

 stand. Some of those on the Asian mainland, as the Pekin 

 Sika Deer, are much larger than the Japanese Sika, and 



