138 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



[Deer. 



7. Capreolus. — The Roes. — The roes or roe- 

 bucks are distinguished by the following charac- 

 ters : — The horns are small, cylindrical, and rugged ; 

 and when fully developed are divided above "into 

 three snags, of which the largest is seated ante- 

 riorly. The muzzle is naked, and there are neither 

 canines nor suborbital sinuses. The tail is ex- 

 tremely short, the body compact, the limbs slender 

 but vigorous. 



609 &. 615. — The Common Roebuck 



(Cervus Capreolus). This species is the Caprea, 

 Capreolus Dorcas, of Gesner; Capreolus, of Ray 

 and of Sibbald ; Cervus Capreolus, of Linnaeus ; 

 Cervus minimus, of Klein ; Iwrch (male), Iyrcheli 

 (female), of the antient British ; Le Chevreuil, of 

 the French ; Capriolo, of the Italians ; Zorlito, Ca- 

 bronzillo montes, of the Spanish ; Cabra montes, of 

 the Portuguese ; Rehbock (male), Rehgees, of the 

 Germans ; Radiur, Rabock, of the Swedes ; Raaedijr, 

 Raaebuk, of the Danes. 



The roebuck was formerly common throughout 

 the whole of our island, but is now almost exclu- 

 sively confined to the wooded hills of Scotland 

 north of the Forth. South of that river it is very 

 rare, one or two wild parks only possessing a few ; 

 but in the rugged woods of Westmoreland and 

 Cumberland it is tolerably abundant. It is widely 

 spread throughout the temperate latitudes of con- 

 tinental Europe, wherever extensive forests and 

 •wild uncultivated districts covered with brushwood 

 afford it an asylum. 



The roebuck is the least, and one of the most 

 active and beautiful, of our European deer ; wild, 

 shy, and cautious, it does not herd in troops, but 

 lives singly, or in small companies consisting of the 

 male, female, and young ; the latter being gene- 

 rally two, sometimes three, in number. These re- 

 main for eight or nine months with their parents, 

 which continue attached for life. The roe is more 

 cunning than the stag, and when hunted will en- 

 deavour, by various subtle artifices, to elude its 

 pursuers. It will wind and double on its track, 

 then take bounds of surprising extent, and lie close 

 amongst the herbage of its covert till the dogs, 

 having lost the scent, pass off to a distance. The 

 ■flesh of this animal is not in high estimation. 



The roe stands about two feet three inches in 

 .height at the shoulder. In the winter the hair on 

 the body is long, the lower part of each hair is 

 ash-coloured ; there is a narrow bar of black near 

 the end, and the tip is yellow. On the face the 

 hair is black, tipped with yellow. The ears are 

 long, of a pale yellow on the inside, and covered 

 with long hair. In summer the coat is short and 

 ^smooth, and of a bright reddish colour. The chest, 

 belly, legs, and inside of the thighs, are yellowish 

 white ; the rump is pure white ; and the tail very 

 short. On the outside of the hind-leg, below the 

 joint, is a tuft of long hair. 



A specimen of the roe of Tartary (C. Pygargus, 

 Pallas), the tailless roe of Pennant, once fell under 

 our notice. In size it equals the fallow-deer ; it 

 inhabits the mountain districts of Hyrcania and 

 other parts of Northern Siberia, and also the snowy 

 range of Central Asia. 



8. Mazama, or American fallow. — The elegant 

 deer composing this section are all confined to the 

 .American continent. The horns are rough, with a 

 cylindrical stem, and slightly compressed branches, 

 which have a tendency to form arches or segments 

 of a circle. Of these an anterior branch projects 

 somewhat forwards; the stem sweeps outwards, 

 ■curving inwards and forwards at its extremity, which 

 divides into two or three branches. There are no ca- 

 nines. The suborbital sinuses are small, and appear 

 hke a fold of the skin. The ears are long and open ; 

 the tail is long, and inclining to be bushy ; the muzzle 

 is naked. The species belonging to this section 

 are numerous. The Virginian deer is the best 

 known. This beautiful species is spread very ex- 

 tensively, ranging from Canada to Cayenne : it 

 tenants the woods in small herds, and its chace is 

 everywhere followed with ardour, so that in a few 

 years the rifle will exterminate it in many districts 

 where it is still common. The three modes of 

 " Still-hunting," " Fire light-hunting," and " Driv- 

 ing " are amusingly described by Audubon in the 

 first vol. of his 'Ornithological Biography.' 



In the museum of the Zool. Soc. Lond. there is 

 a fine specimen of the black-tailed deer (Cervus 

 macrotis, Say), which inhabits the plains of the 

 Missouri, Saskatchewan, and Columbia; it is nu- 

 merous in the Quamash Flats which border the 

 Kooskookee river. It is remarkable for the size 

 of its ears, and the length and fulness of the 

 tail, which is white with a tinge of brown, and 

 largely tipped with black. The general colour is 

 brownish grey. It exceeds the Virginian deer, 

 its height at the shoulders being two feet six 

 inches. 



The Cervus leucurus is another allied species, 

 which, from its size, form, and habits, has obtained 



the name of Roebuck from the Scottish High- 

 landers employed by the Hudson's Bay Company, 

 and that of Chevreuil from the French Canadians. 

 It is common in the districts adjoining the river 

 Columbia, and especially the fertile prairies of the 

 Cowalidske and Multnomah rivers. The young 

 are spotted until the middle of the first winter, 

 when they assume the uniform colour of the adults. 



Azara describes two species belonging to this 

 section, under the terms Gouazoupoucou (Cervus 

 paludosus, Desm.) and Gouazouti (C, campestris, 

 F. Cuv.), both natives of Paraguay. 



The Gouazouti (or Guazuti, Cervus campestris) 

 inhabits the open Pampas, where it is more than 

 a match for a horse in speed. It stands about two 

 feet six inches in height at the shoulder. The 

 hair is rough, close, and of a reddish bay, the 

 space round the eyes, and the under parts of the 

 head and body being white; the hairs of the back 

 are of a leaden grej r colour at the base, the tips 

 only being red. The fawns are spotted with white. 

 A most powerful and disgusting odour of garlic pro- 

 ceeds from the males, especially when their horns 

 are in perfection : this odour is not lost in the pre- 

 served skin, as we can personally testify. " Fre- 

 quently," says Mr. Darwin, "when passing at the 

 distance of half a mile to the leeward of a herd, I 

 have perceived the whole -air tainted with the 

 effluvium." "This deer," says the same talented 

 author, " is exceedingly abundant throughout the 

 countries bordering on the Plata. It is found in 

 northern Patagonia as far south as the Rio Negro 

 (lat. 41°), but farther southward none were seen by 

 the officers employed in surveying the coast. It 

 appears to prefer a hilly country. I saw many 

 small herds, containing from five to seven animals 

 each, near the Sierra Ventana, and among the hills 

 north of Maldonado. If a person crawling close 

 along the ground advances towards a herd, the 

 deer, frequently out of curiosity, approach to re- 

 connoitre him. I have by this means killed from 

 one spot three out of the same herd. Though so 

 tame and inquisitive, yet when approached on 

 horseback they are exceedingly wary. In this 

 country nobody goes on foot, and the deer knows 

 .man as its enemy only when he is mounted and 

 armed with the bolas. " At Bahia Blanca, a recent 

 establishment in northern Patagonia, I was sur- 

 prised to find how little the deer cared for the noise 

 of a gun: one day I fired ten times from within 

 eighty yards at one animal, and it was much more 

 startled at the ball cutting up the ground than 

 at the report of my rifle. My powder being ex- 

 hausted, I was obliged (to my shame as a sports- 

 man be it spoken) to get up and halloo till the deer 

 ran away." 



9. Subuxo. — The Guazus, or Brockets, as they are 

 termed, are distinguished by the simplicity of their 

 horns, which consist of a single slender stem with- 

 out snags; the suborbital sinuses are small; the 

 nose is pointed, and the naked muzzle small, ex- 

 tending at the side of the nostrils into a glandular 

 spot. The species of this section are small, and 

 delicately formed ; they inhabit the swampy woods 

 of South America, in small families consisting of 

 eight or ten females, in company with a single 

 male ; from which circumstance arose the mistaken 

 idea that this part of the globe possessed deer en- 

 tirely destitute of horns, while their simple form in 

 the few males seen (for the females are far more 

 numerous) led to the supposition that these were 

 young animals with their first or brocket horns. 

 Hence the term Brocket, adopted as the descriptive 

 appellation of the group. In the museum of the 

 Zool. Society is a specimen of the female of a deer 

 which most probably belongs to the present sec- 

 tion. It is described in the 'Proceeds.' for 1831, 

 p. 27, as the Cervus humilis, Benn. : — it is about 

 a foot and a half in height at the shoulders, and of 

 a rufous colour, the fore-parts having a blackish 

 tinge. The body is stout; the limbs short; the 

 face broad. Mr. Bennett, by whom this species 

 was characterized, " was informed by Captain P. P. 

 King, R.N., that a second skin of the same species 

 had been brought to England by him; that the 

 young was spotted with yellow, and had a yellow 

 stripe on each side of the back ; and that the ani- 

 mal was plentiful at Concepcion, and found even as 

 far south as the archipelago of Chiloe, living, he be- 

 lieved, in small herds." Until the horns of the male 

 be known, this species stands only provisionally 

 where we have placed it. 



The other known species of this section are the 

 Guazu-pita (Cervus Rufus, F. Cuv.), the Guazu- 

 bira (Cervus nemorivagus, F. Cuv.), and the Apara 

 Brocket (Cervus simpiicicornis, H. Smith). 



616.— The Gtjaza-pita 

 (Cervus rufus). The Guazu-pita is somewhat 

 larger than a roebuck : its general colour is rufous 

 with a dusky tint on the face and legs ; the lips 

 and chin being white. Azara states that the pro- 

 portion of males to females in this species is one 



to ten ; and that the fawns are spotted with white. 

 It frequents dense forests, in which it remains 

 concealed during the day, but at night or during 

 the dusk of the evening it ventures into the open 

 lands bordering the woods, and often invades the 

 cultivated fields or gardens of the natives, for the 

 sake of obtaining French-beans, which are a fa- 

 vourite food. Although not destitute of activity, it 

 is soon exhausted, and easily taken either by dogs, 

 or by means of the lasso. 



617. — The Guazu-bira 



(Cervus nemorivagus) is smaller and more deli- 

 cately formed than the preceding species, which, 

 however, it resembles in general habits and man- 

 ners, inhabiting also the low moist woods of South 

 America. The colour of this little deer is dusky 

 grey, passing into white on the under parts. 



The Cervus simpiicicornis is a native of Brazil : 

 its colour is rich fulvous, with a dusky ring round 

 the orbits and a spot of the same tint at the angle 

 of the mouth. 



10. Styloceros, or the Muntjaks. — The species 

 of this section are natives of India and the Indian 

 Islands, and there is something so peculiar in their 

 physiognomy and appearance, that a glance serves 

 to discriminate between them and all others of the 

 deer tribe. Setting aside the horns, with which 

 the males only are furnished, they remind one 

 strongly of the musk-deer, or Chevrotains, though 

 of larger stature. The body, as in the musk-deer, is 

 rounded ; the head triangular, and tapering to a fine 

 muzzle ; their limbs slender and delicately turned, 

 and their tongue long and flexible. The males, 

 moreover, have long canines in the upper jaw, 

 which protrude beyond the lips. In manners they 

 are timid and gentle, but are easily domesticated, 

 and soon become familiar. 



One remarkable character in the Muntjaks con- 

 sists in the form of the horns, and the manner in 

 which they rise from the forehead, supported on 

 long slender peduncles covered with skin, and 

 turned obliquely outwards, with a tuft of hair along 

 their anterior aspect, becoming very full round the 

 burr of the horn ; the hair on the back part and 

 sides of these peduncles is close. These supports 

 for the small horns do not rise abruptly, but are 

 continued from two prominent ridges beginning be- 

 low the angle of each eye, running obliquely up- 

 wards, diverging as they proceed, and constituting 

 an abrupt outline to the fiat triangular forehead. 

 (See Fig. 618, the Skull of the Muntjak.) These 

 ridges are covered with the skin of the forehead, 

 which for the space of nearly an inch on the inner 

 side of each ridge, parallel to the eyes, forms a 

 narrow naked fold, or kind of sinus, capable of being 

 opened or closed at. pleasure, and evidently of a 

 glandular nature. When closed these sinuses are 

 hidden by the hair. The horns scarcely, if at all, 

 exceed the peduncles in length ; they are pointed, 

 converge at their points, and have a small rudimen- 

 tary snag at their base anteriorly. The suborbital 

 sinuses are large and deep, the muzzle is small and 

 naked, the eyes are large and animated, the ears 

 large and open. The first horns obtained are sim- 

 ple, and it is said that there is only one renewal, the 

 second pair being permanent (a doubtful circum- 

 stance). As Ihe females want horns, the peduncles 

 and their continuation as ridges down the forehead 

 are absent, but a tuft of hair indicates their situa- 

 tion. 



The species composing the present section are but 

 imperfectly known. Colonel H. Smith enumerates 

 five, of which two at least are doubtful. The most 

 familiar example of the group is the Muntjak of 

 Java and Sumatra, the Kidang of Horsfield. 



619. — The Kidang, or Common Muntjak 



( Cervus Muntjak) . This most el egant and beauti ful 

 animal equals a roebuck in size. According to Dr. 

 Horsfield, its favourite haunts in Java are hills co- 

 vered withbrushwood, and elevated grounds adjacent 

 to wild forests, or shrubby districts between the latter 

 and the cultivated grounds. Its voice is so like the 

 barking of a clog as to deceive the ears of persons 

 not familiar to "the sound. The food of this species 

 consists principally of the Saccharum spicatum, the 

 Phvllanthus emblica, and other malvaceous plants 

 abundant in the hilly districts. The Muntjak is 

 eagerly hunted, both for the sake of its flesh, which is 

 excellent, and for the sport which the chase affords. 

 Its flight is very rapid, but it generally makes a cir- 

 cle, returning to the spot whence it started. When 

 brought to bay, the male defends itself against the 

 dogs with great courage, using its horns and long 

 sharp tusks with severe effect. It is of I en taken in 

 snares, and sometimes by riding it down on horse 

 back, and striking it with a sword. 1 Ins mode is 

 highly dangeroWbut is followed nevertheless with 

 the utmost enthusiasm, by danng huner, mounted 

 on the naked back of horses trained to the chace, 

 which is conducted with frantic impetuosity. 



