Indian Sambar 149 



these deer always retire to the higher woods to pass the day ; and there 

 select a lair well sheltered from the sun where grass is abundant. To obtain 

 water they travel long distances, but there is some difference of opinion as 

 to whether a daily drink is necessary to their well-being. 



According to Sir Samuel Baker, a sambar does not attain its full develop- 

 ment of body and antlers until ten years old. A remarkable peculiarity of 

 this, and probably several of the other races of sambar, is that the antlers of 

 the stags are not replaced annually. On this point Sir Samuel Baker says : — 

 " They are not shed annually, but with great irregularity every third or 

 fourth year. This has been established as a fact by those which have been 

 for some years kept in confinement, and it is generally accepted by all 

 natives who are experienced shikaris. During eight years' hunting in 

 Ceylon, I killed a vast number of sambar throughout all seasons, and there 

 was no particular month when the antlers were shed ; the deer were found 

 with horns in every stage of growth, irrespective of periods or localities." 

 Similar testimony is afforded by Messrs. Forsyth and Blanford, the former 

 of whom states that he knew several individual stags which retained their 

 antlers for successive years. In the plains of India the antlers are usually 

 dropped in March, but not till about a month later on the spurs of the 

 Himalaya. Among the stags at Woburn Abbey the antlers are shed 

 annually, but the time of shedding in all the members of the group, and 

 also in the chital, is very variable ; and the fawns may be dropped at any 

 time of year. 



In the plains of India the new antlers of those individuals in which the 

 old ones have been shed are generally free from the velvet about September, 

 and the pairing-season takes place during the months of October and 

 November, although in the Himalaya it is stated by Brian Hodgson to be 

 deferred till the spring. During the season in question sambar collect in 

 larger parties than at other times of the year ; the old stags calling in the 

 mornings and evenings and sometimes far on into the night. The call of 

 the stags has been described as a loud and somewhat metallic -sounding 

 bellow, and that of the hinds as a faint grunting low. In the pairing-season 

 the stags stalk about with the tail erected, the muzzle stretched out, and 

 the eye-pits so completely everted as to expose the pink mucous membrane 

 with which they are lined. In the wild state the stags at this time seem 

 to confine their attacks to members of their own species, on whom they 



