THE DEER OF THE PEKING PARKS 275 
remarkable and interesting species of deer. To describe 
‘its characteristics in anything like detail would obviously 
be quite out of place in an article of the present nature, 
and it will suffice to allude to a few of its more striking 
peculiarities. One feature by which the stags of this 
species differ from those of all other Old World deer, save 
the elk and the roe, is that the antlers are of the forked 
type—that is to say, in place of having a forwardly pro- 
jecting brow-tine immediately above their base, the main 
shaft, or beam, is undivided for a short distance, and then 
splits in a fork-like manner. A peculiarity of the mi-lou 
deer, and one whereby it differs from all the numerous 
species of American deer carrying antlers of the forked 
type, is that the hind prong of the main fork forms an 
undivided tine of great length directed backwards. The 
front prong, on the other hand, is forked at least once, 
and has but little forward inclination till the point of 
bifurcation is reached. The long donkey-like tail, which 
attracted the attention of the Abbé David at his first sight 
of the animal, is particularly well displayed in the photo- 
graph. The general colour of the coat is fawn-grey, 
becoming lighter on the face, rump, inner sides of the 
limbs, and under-parts. Unlike the majority of deer, 
there is but little change in the colour of the coat accord- 
ing to season. One very curious peculiarity displayed by 
the stags in the herd of mi-lou deer at Woburn Abbey 
is that they shed and renew their antlers twice a year, 
instead of once, as in other deer. Whether, however, this 
peculiarity has always been inherent in the species, or 
whether it is the result of long domestication, is impossible 
to say, for the species is quite unknown in a wild state. 
Indeed, it cannot now be ascertained whether this double 
change of antlers took place among the herds in the 
