24 MOSTLY MAMMALS 
the primitive spotted coloration of the chital for a dull 
brown and shaggy coat are proclaimed to be essentially 
animals of the thick forest by the large size of their ears, 
although this characteristic is more strongly marked in the 
larger than in the smaller races of the group. Dr. Blanford’s 
account of the habits of the Indian sambar runs as follows :— 
“This is the woodland deer of South-Eastern Asia 
generally, and is more widely and generally distributed 
than any other species. ... It comes out on the grass 
slopes when such exist, as in the Nilgiris and other hill- 
ranges, to graze, but always takes refuge in the woods. 
It is but rarely found associating in any numbers; both 
stags and hinds are often found singly, but small herds 
of four or five to a dozen in number are commonly met 
with. Its habits are nocturnal; it may be seen feeding 
in the morning and evening, but it grazes chiefly at night, 
and at that time often visits small patches of cultivation 
in the half-cleared tracts, returning for the day to wilder 
parts, and often ascending hills to make a lair in grass 
amongst trees, where it generally selects a spot well shaded 
from the sun’s rays.” 
Contrasting this with the account given above of the 
mode of life of the chital, the reason of the colour of 
the sambar will be apparent. It is essentially a deer of 
the thickets, nocturnal and more or less solitary in habits, 
and shunning the sunlit glades. Hence not only is the 
coat uniformly dusky brown, but the white “ recognition 
marks” on the rump, so useful in the case of the fallow- 
deer and the sikas, are entirely wanting. 
As regards the change from a grey fawn-colour in summer 
to a foxy red in winter exhibited by many kinds of deer 
—most markedly by the American white-tail and the 
European roe, and, in a somewhat less degree, by the 
