DEER. 
397 
Habits. 
Kansu, on the north-west of China, it is replaced by a nearly allied species 
(M. sifaniens). In the Himalaya it is seldom found below elevations of eight 
thousand feet in summer, and in Sikhim it occurs above twelve thousand feet. 
Musk-deer are found either in pairs or alone, and in the Kashmir 
Himalaya are generally met with in the birch-forests above the zone 
of pines. Sometimes, however, they may be seen at lower levels among thick 
cover. In habits they have been compared by General Kinloch to hares, and, like 
these animals, they make a “ form,” in which they lie concealed during the day, 
their feeding-time being in the morning and evening. Musk-deer seem capable of 
enduring almost any degree of cold, against which the peculiar nature of their 
thick fur is doubtless a sufficient protection. In early spring they may be seen 
among the steep birch-forests around Kashmir, when the ground is deeply buried 
in snow, making their way from tree to tree in search of the young twigs and buds 
upon which they then chiefly subsist. On such ground they are very active 
and sure-footed, their large lateral hoofs being apparently adapted to aid them 
in obtaining a foothold on hard snow-slopes and smooth slippery rocks. 
General Kinloch states that musk-deer utter a kind of hiss when alarmed, 
and it is ascertained that when captured they give vent to a series of screams; with 
these exceptions they appear to be silent, even in the pairing-season. From 
observations on some musk-deer kept in captivity in Nipal, it appears that the 
sexes come together in January, and that the fawns are born in June. Usually 
there is but a single young one at a birth, but occasionally two are produced. 
The musk, which, as already mentioned, is found in the male 
alone, when fresh is soft and moist, of a brownish colour, and with a 
rather unpleasant smell. It soon, however, hardens and dries, and at the same 
time acquires the all-powerful scent of musk. When removed from the dead 
animal, the secretion is tied up in a portion of the hairy skin covering the gland, 
and is then known as a “ musk-pod.” Each pod will contain on an average about 
an ounce of musk, and in India will fetch some sixteen rupees in the market. 
English sportsmen hunt musk-deer either by walking through 
the forests they frequent, and carefully examining every ravine and 
hollow, or by having the jungles driven by natives. On the other hand, the 
natives themselves capture these little deer in a wholesale manner, which is de¬ 
scribed as follows by General Macintyre. “ A low fence is made of boughs, etc., 
along the ridge of a hill, sometimes a mile or more in length. At intervals of 
100 or 150 yards are gaps. The musk-deer, crossing the ridge from one valley 
to another, come across this fence, and, to save themselves the trouble of jumping 
over it, walk alongside until, seeing a little gap, they try to go through it. But 
in each gap a noose of strong string is placed on the ground and tied to a stout 
sapling bent downwards. The noose is so arranged that, when the deer tread 
inside it, the sapling is loosed and flies back, leaving the noose tied tightly round 
the animal’s leg. The people visit these fences every two or three days, and secure 
the deer thus caught, and repair the fences and nooses, which are often carried 
away or destroyed by larger game.” In spite of the constant persecution to which 
they are subject, musk-deer are still fairly common in many parts of the Himalaya, 
where they are known by the name of kastura. 
Musk. 
Hunting. 
