DEER. 



53 



Red Deer Group ^ e tyP* ca ^ g rou P °f the genus Cervus are [Cases 62 



included Deer of large size from Europe, an< * ^ 



Cervus elaphus, &c. North Africa ^ Asia ^ and North America> The 



long and branched antlers are nearly cylindrical, usually with at 

 least five tines a side, including a brow and a bez. There is a 

 light area, generally including the tail, on the rump, and the tail 

 itself is short. The young are spotted, but in the adult the colour 

 is mostly uniform, although traces of spotting may remain. The 

 Red Deer of Europe, or rather of Sweden (C. elaphus, 1263), is 

 the typical form, with the most complex antlers ; in Eastern 

 Europe and Persia it is represented by the variety C. elaphus maral 

 (1264^ fig. 39), in which the antlers are often less complex, and there 

 is much black on the flanks. Other species are Thorold's Deer 

 (C. albirostris, 1265) of Tibet, the Hangul (C. cashmirianus, 

 1266) of Kashmir, the Yarkand Stag (C. yarcandensis, 1267), 

 and the Shou (C. affinis, 1268) of the Chumbi Valley and Bhutan, 

 the latter characterised by the forward curvature of the five-tined 

 antlers. Wapiti form a sub-group, characterised by the great size 

 of the fourth tine of the antlers, and the circumstance that all the 

 tines above this are in the same fore-and-aft plane, as well by the 

 extreme shortness of the tail, the large size of the rump-patch, and 

 the dark under-parts. The typical Wapiti (C. canadensis, 1269) 

 inhabits Eastern North America, and is represented by a variety 

 (C. canadensis occidentalis, 1270) on the west side of the continent. 

 In Central Asia the group is represented by the Thian Shan 

 Wapiti (C. songaricus, 1271) of the Thian Shan and Western 

 Altai, the Siberian Wapiti (C. asiaticus, 1272), the Manchurian 

 Wapiti (C. ocanthopyguSy 1273), in which the antlers depart some- 

 what from the typical Wapiti type, and the Turkestan Wapiti (C. 

 bactrianus, 1274), all of which may be regarded as local races of 

 C. canadensis. 



Sika Deer. The Deer of the subgenus Pseudaxis are all of small or [Case E.], 

 Subgenus medium size, and inhabit Eastern Asia. Their antlers 

 Pseudaxis. h ave only four tines (the bez-tine of the Red Deer 

 group being wanting) , the posterior of which is much smaller than 

 the one in front of it. The coat is always spotted with white in 

 summer, but in some species the spots disappear in winter, while 

 in others they persist. The tail is longer than in the Bed Deer 

 group, and the light disc on the buttocks pure white, bordered 



