254 
ITS ALARM NOTE. 
to shoot him for the trophy of his head and antlers, but 
he has still more dreaded enemies watching their oppor- 
tunities ; the subtle tiger springing upon him in his lair ; 
the leopard dropping on him from the branch of a tree, as 
he passes underneath ; or a pack of wild dogs chasing him 
to his death, I have often watched the movements of a 
sambur on leaving the shola for his evening meal, when 
suddenly coming across the track of a tiger which has 
skulked out a few minutes previously; he will at once stop 
and with arched back, head upraised and every hair of his 
body erect, utter the peculiar sound which gives all his 
tribe warning, that an enemy is abroad. This peculiar bell, 
given by a. sambur when either crossing the track of, or 
seeing a tiger, is a note of alarm apparently instinctive to 
all the deer tribe. One hot day in August, 1 was at the 
Zoological Gardens in London, and all the deer w^ere lying 
down in the covered sheds ; not one was out in the yards. 
Being anxious to see the samburs which I heard had been 
bred in the gardens, 1 imitated this peculiar " tiger bell " 
as 1 call it. In less than two minutes, not only were the 
samburs, but all other deer of every kind, including our 
red deer, out in the yards with head and tail erect, ex- 
pressions of alarm in their eyes, and walking as it were 
on tip toe, looking out for the supposed danger. 
Stalking a sambur in India must not be compared with 
stalking the red deer in Scotland. The sambur lives all the 
day in small woods, sholas as they are called, which abound 
on the hills, only coming out to feed at early dawn or late 
evening. These Indian sholas are composed of trees and 
jungles, giving shade and comparative safety all the day, 
and thus the stalk can only take place at two stated periods, 
