276 
TiiE AXIS OK Sl'OTTED DEER, 
shikar it! pointed out another herd, in which he said there 
was a sing walhi " (a fnie buck). J could see one or two 
does offering tempting shots but 1 would not fire, and they 
moved on, and then to my disgust I saw that what I hatl 
taken for the stump of a tree about seventy yards from me, 
was the white chest and neck of the buck. 
In June, 1864, I went to join my friend Falkner on a 
sportii>g trip, and devoted myself entirely to the pursuit of the 
spotted Deer, and whilst on this trip I shot some very good 
bucks, with fine heads. One had antlers thirty-one and three 
quarter inches in length with a spread of twenty- three inches, 
another thirty- four and a quarter inches long with a spread 
of twenty- one inches, and another thirty-one and a quarter in 
length with a spread of twenty-six inches ; the average length 
in Southern India being a little under thirty inches. All 
these were very handsome animals, the horns being very mas- 
sive and beautifully shaped. Coming home that evening in the 
dusk, we had just entered a glade when the Punnian pointed, 
and I saw what 1 thought was a very large spotted buck. 1 
fired at it, but there it remained, and when I went up to it I 
found it was a bush with white leaves! In this trip I killed 
a spotted deer with very extraordinary antlers. 1 found a 
herd in an open glade, with two very fine bucks. I got 
down to them and was just going to fire at what I thought 
was the largest of the two when he laid down behind a bush 
and I could only see the top of his antlers. The other buck 
looked very large so I determined to have a crack at him. 1 
threw him on his tracks about fifty-five yards distant. He 
bellowed like a bull, and on going up 1 found he had the most 
extraordinary antlers I ever saw. No less than ten tines* 
The length of the antlers were thirty-three and a half inches 
