THE RUSA-DEER, OR SAMBOO STAG. U 



THE RUSA-DEER, OR SAMBOO STAG, 



IN THE ROYAL MENAGERY, TOWER OF LONDON. 



The deeper we search into Nature, the stronger will be our conviction of our limited knowledge 

 respecting the extent of her treasures, and at every step which we take we shall have occasion to find that 

 protracted inquiry is more apt to teach us modesty, than to render us vain of the information which we 

 have already acquired. In treating of the natural history of foreign animals, particularly of those 

 which are of recent importation, and which have been hitherto unknown in the country, a considerable 

 difficulty presents itself, inasmuch as it seldom happens that those by whom the animal has been 

 introduced, have been so far instigated by a love of science as to bring with them any accurate and 

 scientific information of its habits, character, and dispositions in its savage state ; and thus the only 

 clue to its history is that of analogy with any other variety of the genus, with which we may have 

 been previously acquainted. 



The foregoing remarks are peculiarly applicable to the present subject, for its natural history is yet 

 but imperfectly known to zoologists ; and, in fact, it has not yet been introduced into some of the 

 standard works which are considered as the most complete in the natm-al history of quadrupeds. 



The whole of the deer tribe are distinguished for their extreme agility and timidity, principally 

 inhabiting, in their undomesticated state, the most wild and woody regions, and possessing such an 

 instinctive fear of man, that in some of the species all attempts to tame it, or to render it tractable, have 

 wholly failed. We are as yet acquainted with few species of the deer kind, yet it is remarkable 

 that the race appears to be diffused over all parts of the earth. On the vast plains of America, where 

 neither the sheep, the goat, nor the gazelle, have been originally bred, animals of the deer kind are to be 

 found in vast numbers ; and in some countries, particularly Lapland, the deer form the most valuable 

 property of the natives. 



The Rusa-Deer or Samboo Stag possesses the general characteristics of the deer tribe, and in 

 appearance strongly resembles the stag, which was formerly so great an ornament to our forests and the 

 parks of our nobility. It is a native of India, and was, with another of its species, presented to his 

 Majesty, who, with the view of domesticating them, turned them into the great park at Windsor ; 

 disdaining, however, to congregate with the native deer, they sought the most unfrequented parts of 

 the domain, and being both males, and having none of their fellows to quarrel with, they waged a 

 continual war with each other, and as a great fear was entertained that the death of both, or at least 

 that of one of them, would be the consequence, it was deemed prudent to separate them ; dearly, however, 

 has the delinquent in the Tower paid for his outrageous conduct, by being obliged to exchange the 

 fresh and wholesome herbage and the unbounded liberty of Windsor Park for a small square enclosure 

 in the Menagery of the Tower, having for its companion, on one side, the snapping pelican, and on 

 the other, the spitting Llama. 



Like all ruminating animals, with the exception of the Llama, the Samboo Stag has eight front 

 teeth in the lower jaw, the upper being toothless, although in some of the species of deer a single canine 

 tooth is found on each side of the upper jaw. 



The horns of the Samboo Stag differ from those of the other species, by having a single antler at 

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