198 Rucervine Group 



southwards in suitable localities throughout Burma and the Malay Penin- 

 sula, and eastwards to Southern Siam, Cambodia, and the island of Hainan. 



Habits. — This very distinct type of deer was discovered by Captain Eld 

 about the year 1840, and papers on its habits were contributed both by that 

 gentleman and by Captain R. C. Beavan ; the following account being taken 

 from the latter officer's paper. " In habits," he writes, " these deer are 

 essentially gregarious, and associate with no other species, although hog-deer 

 abound in the grass and jungle along the edges of the plain ; nor will they 

 allow the tame buffaloes to come nearer to them than about a hundred yards. 

 They are very wary and difficult of approach, especially the males. They are 

 also very timid and easily startled ; the males, however, when wounded and 

 brought to bay with dogs get very savage and charge vigorously. In fact 

 the thameng is essentially a plain-loving species ; and although it will fre- 

 quent tolerably open tree-jungle, for the sake of its shade, it will never 

 venture into dense or matted underwood, that is bush-jungle in contradis- 

 tinction to tree-jungle. 



" When first started the pace of the thameng is great. It commences 

 by giving three or four large bounds like the axis or spotted deer, and after- 

 wards settles down into a long trot, which it will keep up for six or seven 

 miles on end when frequently disturbed. This is where the vegetation on 

 the plain is comparatively short. In the rains they do not go far before 

 they find a hiding-place in the paddy [rice]. Their powers of leaping are 

 highly developed. . . . They are least gregarious in the rainy weather. The 

 females have mostly then retired in twos and threes into quiet spots, and the 

 herds are altogether more scattered, owing to the increased density of the 

 vegetation. 



" They feed both during the day and night, chiefly in early morning 

 and evening. Their food consists chiefly of jungle paddy ; during the night 

 they do a great deal of damage to the cultivated variety, treading down 

 more than they eat. They also feed on grass, and the leaves of two jungle- 

 trees called in Burmese the keay and the thameh. In a tamed state they will 

 eat plantain-leaves. The call of the female, uttered when disturbed, is a 

 short barking grunt, that of the males is louder and more prolonged. It is 

 most frequently heard in the rutting-season, during which the males have 

 frequent and severe battles. A pair are known to have been captured 

 whilst so engaged with their antlers interlocked. 



