Pere David's Milou Deer 237 



Distribution. — Northern China. The type specimen was obtained by 

 Pere David from the Imperial Park at Pekin, and is now preserved in the 

 museum at Paris. The London Zoological Society received a pair of 

 specimens from the late Sir Rutherford Alcock in 1869, and a second pair 

 were purchased in 1883. The male figured in plate xix is one living in 

 the park at Woburn Abbey. 



Habits. — By the Chinese this deer is known as mi-lou, a name which 

 may be adopted as the English title for the genus. Nothing appears to be 

 recorded of its habits in the wild state, and the following notes are from 

 observations on the specimens at Woburn Abbey. In his notice of this 

 species Mr. Sclater wrote as follows : — " The general aspect of the elaphure 

 is much more like that of the true Cervi than I had anticipated from the 

 description and figure of M. Milne-Edwards. The only two very noticeable 

 points of distinction, besides the horns of the male, which are not at present 

 shown in our animals, are the rather larger, heavier legs, the longer and 

 more expanding toes, and the long tail. The latter character, however, 

 seems to me to have been somewhat exaggerated in M. Milne-Edward's 

 figures — the tail in our specimen not nearly reaching the hocks, and, though 

 of somewhat different form, being little, if any, longer than that of the 

 fallow deer and some of the American deer (such as the Virginian deer)." 

 With these conclusions it is very difficult to agree, the general appearance of 

 Pere David's deer, when roaming at liberty in the park at Woburn Abbey, 

 being quite unlike that of any other member of the group. Its gait is a 

 kind of " lolloping " trot, recalling more the action of a mule than that of 

 a deer ; and its whole carriage, although almost impossible to describe, is 

 totally unlike that of any other deer. In the Woburn specimens the tail 

 reaches the hocks, and is decidedly longer than that of the fallow deer, 

 The large spreading hoofs proclaim that these animals are in the habit of 

 frequenting marshy ground, and at Woburn during summer they may 

 frequently be seen wading far into the lakes, or even swimming in the 

 deeper water. At this season their food consists chiefly of rushes and various 

 other water-plants. The stags call in June and July ; their cry being a kind 

 of bray, more like that of a donkey than the call of other deer. The antlers 

 are dropped during November or December. 



