70 



POPULAR OFFICIAL GUIDE. 



the main beam sweeps backward in the opposite direction, 

 and describes a full semicircle. The antlers are both very 

 heavy and long for the size of the animal. The specimens 

 shown here, which are breeding satisfactorily, are the gift of 

 Mr. William Rockefeller. 



The Barasingha Deer, (Cervus duvauceli), also called the 

 Swamp Deer, is to India what the mule deer is to North 

 America. To my mind, the antlers of the former always 

 suggests the latter species, and in size the two species are 

 much alike. In summer the coat of the Barasingha is of a 

 beautiful golden-yellow color, conspicuous from afar, and 

 the antlers of old males reach a length of from 35 to 41 

 inches, with three bifurcations on each beam. The antlers 

 sometimes are shed and renewed twice in twelve months. 

 With us this species breeds very regularly, and the off- 

 spring mature well. 



The Altai Wapiti, {Cervus canadensis asiaticus), is, in all 

 probability, the parent stock of our American elk, but it 

 happens to be a fact that our species was the first to be 

 discovered by systematic zoologists, and described. To all 

 visitors who are interested in deer, the Altai Wapiti — and 

 also the Tashkent Wapiti — are a constant source of wonder, 

 because of their well-nigh perfect similarity in all points 

 to our own wapiti, or American elk. Our Asiatic wapiti 

 are exhibited in ranges connecting with the western rooms 

 of the Asiatic Deer House, where they have bred twice, and 

 produced two fine fawns. In the rutting season the males 

 are very cross and dangerous. They are hardy, and re- 

 quire no heat in winter. 



The Indian Sambar, (Cervus unicolor), always suggests a 

 tropical understudy of the Altai wapiti, clad with thin, 

 coarse, bristly hair, and with shorter and smaller antlers, 

 and a bristly mane all over the neck. Each antler possesses 

 three points, only. Of all the Old World Cerzndae, this 

 species most nearly approaches the size of the Altai and 

 Tashkent wapiti. It inhabits the hill forests of India, and 

 in Burma, Sjam and farther south it is replaced by the next 

 species. 



The Malay Sambar, (Cervus equinus), also called — most 

 inappropriately — the "Horse-Tailed Deer," very strongly 

 resembles the preceding species, except that the bristly 

 mane of the former is generally absent. The antlers of 

 this species are shorter, also, but very thick in proportion 

 to their length. The Malay Sambar is confined to the Malay 



