68 
GUIDE TO THE 
in the months of February or March. Unlike the Samber 
and many other Asiatic deer, it has not been observed to 
roll itself in mud, nor does it appear to take to water, 
and its coat is always preserved scrupulously clean. It 
has great powers of jumping, and, even without running, 
will clear a fence six feet high. 
Immediately following the Spotted deer comes the 
Equine deer, and, on the opposite side of the road, is the 
Samber of India proper. -These two deer are so closely 
allied to one another, that a consideration of them, as they 
here occur in contiguity, must convince any one that it is 
impossible to maintain their specific distinctness. The 
difference is more in size than in any other feature. The 
so-called Equine deer is nothing else than the Samber of 
Borneo, Sumatra and the extremity of the Malayan 
Peninsula, and the Phillipine deer is the Samber of the 
Phillipine islands ; there is also another and insular 
race of the same species on the island of Formosa, 
Besides the foregoing distribution, the Samber ranges 
over the greater part of India, from the Himalaya to the 
extreme south of the Peninsula, and it ascends to con- 
derable altitudes, even to 10,000 feet. It is a forest animal, 
and rarely ventures to the open plains. Its horns 
conform to the sub-genus Rusa already indicated. It 
casts its antlers about April. It is very fond of shade 
and water, also of muddy hollows, and its food chiefly 
consists of leaves. 
After these deer will be found a pair of Cervus duvaucelli , 
and their fawn bred in the Gardens, representatives of 
another sub-genus which contains the most handsome of the 
Indian deer, viz. y the sub-genus Rucervus , chiefly distinguish¬ 
ed by the length and strength of its brow-antler which pro- 
