Indian Muntjac 205 



narrow and pointed ; tail short (length, inclusive of hair, 7 inches) ; no 

 tuft on crown of head ; lateral hoofs very small ; hair comparatively short 

 and fine. General colour deep chestnut-red, darkest on the back, and 

 paler on the under-parts ; face and limbs brownish, a black line on the 

 inner side of the pedicles of the antlers continued for some distance down 

 the side of the ridges on the face ; tufts of black bristly hair in the female 

 on the spots where the pedicles of the antlers of the male are situated ; 

 chin and upper portion of the throat, the hinder part of the abdomen, the 

 inner side of the thighs, and under surface of the tail white ; and a small 

 whitish mark on the front of each foot above the 

 hoof There is normally no black band on the 

 nape of the neck, although a faint indication of 

 such a line has been recorded by Dr. J. Anderson 

 in one Nepalese skin. The maximum recorded 

 length of the antlers is "j\ inches. 



Distribution. — Much discussion has arisen as 

 to whether there is more than one species of 

 Indian muntjac, and also as to whether the % 

 Malayan forms are identical with the Indian. p IGi 56.— Frontlet and Antlers 

 That all these belong to one species, may, I of Indian Muntjac. (Row- 



6 r / . land Ward, Records of Big 



think, be regarded as certain, although it is Game.) 

 quite probable that fuller material might enable 



one or more of the Malayan races to be separated as distinct sub-species. 



On this subject Sir Victor Brooke wrote as follows in 1874: — "In a 

 large collection of the skins, skulls, and horns of this species, which I have 

 received from all parts of India and Burma, and in a considerable number 

 of living specimens which I have examined, I have observed among adult 

 animals so much difference in size and intensity of coloration that I have 

 found it impossible to retain the muntjac of Java and Sumatra as a distinct 

 species. The muntjacs from the south of India are, as a rule, smaller than 

 those from the north, as is also the case with the axis and Indian antelope. 

 But even this rule is subject to many exceptions. I have received from 

 Northern India perfectly adult, and even slightly aged, specimens of both 

 muntjac and axis inferior in size to the average as presented by these 

 species in Southern India. These small races are always connected with 

 particular areas, and are doubtless the results of conditions sufficiently 



