Basilan Sambar 159 



Cervus steerii, Elliot, Pub/. Field Columbian Mas. — Zoo I. vol. i. p. 72 

 (1896), ibid. p. 157 (1897). 



Characters. — Smaller than the last, the height at the shoulder being 

 from about 24 to 26 inches ; the general build much more slender, with 

 the hind-quarters much higher than the withers. General colour of 

 pelage blackish brown, slightly tinged with rufous, the face, neck, and 

 shoulders being almost black ; no moustache-like markings on the muzzle ; 

 chin and under -parts and the inner surfaces of the thighs varying from 

 dirty white to whitish brown, the white showing most on the front of the 

 thighs ; metatarsal gland generally not distinctly seen ; ears oval, relatively 

 small, and almost naked externally. Antlers moderately stout, somewhat 

 curved forwards, with a very short brow-tine, and the hinder tine of the 

 terminal fork not much shorter than the front one. Skull much depressed 

 in the nasal region, and the nasal bones in fully adult individuals so much 

 expanded as almost or completely to obliterate the lachrymal vacuity. 



In a skull in the British Museum collected in Basilan by Mr. A. H. 

 Everett, the length from the occiput to the extremity of the nasals is 9.5 

 inches, and that of the antlers measured along the outer curve 13.5 inches. 



The species was founded upon a female from an unknown island in the 

 Philippines, in which the lower portions of the legs are perhaps rather 

 lighter than in other examples, and the metatarsal gland indistinctly visible 

 as a light patch. 1 This specimen is in the British Museum. In the year 

 1890 the Museum received from Mr. E. L. Moseley a small male sambar- 

 like deer which had been collected by Mr. J. B. Steere in Basilan, and 

 has been for some years mounted in the mammal gallery, and labelled 

 C. nigricans. From the comparatively small size of the antlers it is probably 

 immature ; and the only difference, apart from sex, between this and 

 the type specimen is that in the former the front and outer side of the 

 lower portion of the legs are slightly darker, and show no distinct light 

 gland-patch. As mounted, it measures 25^ inches at the shoulder, and 27 

 inches at the rump. In its relatively high rump it accords with Sir 

 Victor Brooke's " crouching aguti-like carriage " of the type specimen, 

 and from actual comparison with the latter there seems no doubt that both 

 belong to the same kind of animal, the nearly naked ears being a very con- 

 spicuous common feature. The antlers are strongly curved. Two skulls 



1 Both the legs and the gland-patch are made too light in Sir Victor Brooke's plate. 



