SWINHOE’S DEER. 
Cervus swinhoii. 
Plate XVII. 
his Deer deservedly bears the name of its discoverer, Mr. Robert Svvinhoe, whose merits as an exploring 
Naturalist we have already spoken of when treating of the Formosan Deer (pi. xir.l Of this species 
hkewise, Mr.-Sw.nl,oe sent two living examples to the Society’s collection in 1802, one of which (the subject 
of tlio present portrait) is still alive in the Menagerie. 
The Swmhoe’s Deer belongs strictly to the Rusine group, of which the Sambur Deer of India, and the 
Ivusa Deer of Malacca (figured in the preceding plate of these Sketches), are well-known examples. They differ 
rom the typ.cal Stags in their antlers being shorter in the beam, and having fewer points-likewise in their 
uniform, unspotted fur, even in young animals. While the Formosan Deer inhabits the higher ranges of the 
island of ormosa, Swmhoe’s Deer is found on the lower hills, at an altitude of from 1000 to 5000 feet Mr 
Swinhoe speaks of it as follows, in his Notes on the Mammals of Formosa, published in the Zoological 
Society s “Proceedings”:— 
“It was not until my late visit to the City of Taiwanfoo, S.W. Formosa, that I came across this species 
It struck me at once as a novelty, and I managed to procure two bucks, both of which have fortunately 
reached the Gardens of the Society in good health. On my visit to the Tamsuy district, N.W. Formosa i 
again met with the animal in a state of confinement in the hands of the Chinese, and secured a buck for the 
Acclimatization Society of Melbourne; but a live female I could not manage to procure. This species may 
at once be distinguished from the other by its total want of spots, by the absence of the white patch that 
a orns the parts about the tail, by its coarse, reddish-brown hair, appearing almost black in some lights- but 
above all, by the occurrence of a large sac between the eye and the nose. This curious organ, whatever its 
properties may be, it has the power of opening and shutting. It appears to be expanded most frequently 
when the beast is irritated. At a distance, the deer looks as if he possessed four eyes, whence the Chinese 
Seeang f ° Ur " eyed ’ 11 however ’ more generally known in Formosa as the 
The nearest ally of the present species seems to be the Pliilippine-Island Deer (Cerous phUippinvs), with 
which it lequires a more exact comparison than has as yet been made. 
