Basilan Sam bar 



161 



the upper lip, no dark streak down the back, and that the tail is dark all 

 round. 



Although the antlers appear somewhat straighter, I have no doubt, 

 from the figure of the head, that the type of C. steerii is identical with the 

 British Museum mounted specimen referred to C. nigricans, and since I 

 cannot distinguish the latter from the type of that species, I have no hesita- 

 tion in pronouncing C. steerii to be a synonym of C. nigricans. Indeed, all 

 the specimens from Basilan agree in their small size and short brow-tine. 

 Mr. Elliot states that his specimen measures i foot io| inches (22^ inches) 

 at the shoulder, and 2 feet 8^ inches at the withers, but the latter must 

 obviously be a misprint for 2 feet 3^ inches (27^ inches) ; and this relatively 

 high elevation of the hind-quarters is, as already said, a special feature in 

 the description of the type of C. nigricans. The alleged differences in the 

 skull I consider due to sex and age. 



It is with some little hesitation that I include this tiny little deer as a 

 sub-species of sambar, but since it has the same type of antlers and similarly 

 coloured hair, it seems preferable to regard it as a very diminutive and 

 short-eared race of that very variable species. 



Distribution. — The island of Basilan, situated near the southern extremity 

 of the Philippine group. 



It is interesting to note that as Basilan is one of the smallest of the 

 Philippine Islands, so the Basilan sambar is the most diminutive of all the 

 deer to which the name sambar can properly be applied, it being a well- 

 known fact that the larger species of mammals gradually diminish in size 

 with the shrinkage in the size of their habitat. Although the creature is 

 not larger than a roe, and has relatively smaller ears than its relatives of the 

 larger Oriental islands and continent, yet, especially as regards its antlers, 

 pelage, colour, and tail, it is essentially a sambar, and as such seems better 

 placed as a sub-species than as a species. 



Habits. — Dr. Steere writes that the Basilan sambar " was found occupy- 

 ing the higher parts of the island, in a country of steep, rocky ridges, 

 covered thickly with timber and thick undergrowth. In the valleys were 

 shallow streams. I took it rather for a mountaineer than a swamp-inhabiter, 

 though the whole country was dripping with moisture at the time of my 

 visit, and the higher lands in the Philippines are always the swampiest. . . . 

 I noticed that all the deer procured in Basilan were closely alike in colour, 



Y 



