64 



Elaphine Group 



ment of the large light area in the caudal region, must likewise be regarded 

 as specialised features ; but it is interesting to note that the caudal disk is 

 least developed in some of the Central Asiatic species, in which the 

 markings are very like those of the sikas. Evidence of affinity with that 

 group is further proclaimed by the dappled coat of the fawns. And 

 although it is generally stated that the adult pelage is entirely unspotted, 

 one or more rows of such spots may frequently be detected in English red 

 deer hinds in the summer coat, and a herd of Caspian red deer in the 

 same pelage living at Woburn Abbey in the summer of 1897 were 



Fig. 17. — Group of" Red Deer at Woburn Abbey. From a photograph by the Duchess of Bedford. 



almost as much spotted as many sikas at the same time of year. In all 

 members of the present group the velvet of the antlers is of a grayish 

 fawn colour. 



Distribution. — The Holarctic region, dating from the Plistocene epoch. 



[. The Red Deer — Cervus elaphus 



Cervus elaphus, Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. 12, vol. i. p. 93 (1766) ; Jenyns, 

 Brit. Vert. Animals, p. 37 (1835) ; Bell, Brit. Quadrupeds, p. 394 (1837) ; 

 Keyserling and Blasius, Wirbelth. Europ. p. 26 (1840) ; P. L. Sclater, 

 Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. vii. p. 342 (1871) ; Fitzinger, SB. Ak. Wien, vol. 

 Ixix. part i. p. 565 (1874); Ward, Records of Big Game, p. 22 (1896); 

 Satunin, Zool. Jahrb. Syst. vol. ix. p. 309 (1896) ; Biichner, Ann. Mus. 

 Zool. St. Petersburg, 1896, p. 387. 



