XXVI. BROW-ANTLERED OR ELD’S DEER

(Rucervus vel Panolia Eldii)

Native names: ‘Thamin,’ ‘Sungrai’

This variety of swamp deer is found chiefly in Burmah, but extends from Munipur to the Malay Peninsula. Its habits are, as above noted, the same as those of the swamp deer, but it is rather differently coloured, being, according to Sterndale, ‘of a light rufous brown with a few faint indications of white spots, the under parts and insides of the ears nearly white, the tail short and black above. It is said to become darker in winter instead of lighter, as in the swamp deer.’

The horns, however, are very unlike the swamp deer’s. The brow antler and beam, instead of forming an angle, are in one continuous curve, like the section of a circle, the burr being small and hardly seen. In rear of the top of the beam there is a short snag, which Sterndale calls the royal tine, and on the front of the top of the beam, which is rather flattened, instead of regular tines like those on a swamp deer’s head, there is a collection of what look like false points. In a head in the British Museum the left horn has thirteen of these little snags and the right fourteen.

Panolia Eldii

In Upper Burmah, Eld’s deer are scarce, and the only way to obtain them is to drive for them with beaters. In Lower Burmah they are occasionally shot by lamplight, much in the same manner as that described in Colonel Rice’s book; the performance is said to be very interesting. The party (which usually consists of a lamp-bearer, a man with an arrangement of jingling bells and rings on a stick, the sportsman and his gun-carriers) having assembled after dark, a fire is lit, and a kind of incantation gone through, everyone but the speaker being forbidden to utter a word. When the incantation is over, each member of the party passes through the smoke of the fire in turn, the guns are handed through it also, the lamp is then lit, and the party starts, using the lamp, an earthenware pot with a hole in its side, as a search light, while the man with the frame of bells keeps up an incessant jingling. On a deer being discovered, the light is at once turned full on its eyes and kept steadily there, the jingling kept going, with the result that the deer is so dazed that it will often allow the party to go close up to it before the sportsman fires. Both Eld’s deer and sambur may be shot in this way, and the writer has been told that hares, and occasionally deer, will allow themselves to be approached till they can be speared or knocked on the head with sticks. This, of course, is not a very high class of sport, but in many of the coast districts stalking in the jungles is almost impossible.

Measurements

AuthorityHeight at shoulderTotal lengthWeight as shotLength of hornLength of brow antlerGirth above brow antlerGirth above burrGirth of burrGirth of beam midwayRemarks
Rusa Aristotelis
ins.ins.lbs.ins.ins.ins.ins.ins.ins.
Mr A. O. Hume......46½..6⅜......Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
Dr. Falconer, British Museum......45⅛..6⅝......”
‘The Field,’ Dec. 22, 1866......45, 44......117½Weight of horns, without skull, 20 lbs.
Sir J. Morris, K.C.S.I.......45..7⅜......Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
Maj.-Gen. A. Ellis, C.S.I.......45..7¼......Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
Sterndale’s ‘Mammalia’......45, 4318¼..9..7¼Has an abnormal snag 9 ins. long on right horn below the très tine
Sterndale’s ‘Mammalia’5672 to 78..............
British Museum......44½..7......
Col. W. J. Morris......44⅛..7⅞......Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
Major Ward53....44..9......‘Sportsman’s Guide to Ladak, &c.’
Mr. J. D. Inverarity......44..........Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
The Earl of Ducie......R 35
L 33		R 14½
L 13		7½......A peculiar head with abnormal snags at the back of each beam. Terminal points: R. 11, L. 12½. Abnormal snags: R. 9¼, L. 13. Girth of snags: R. 5½, L. 7½.
The Maharahjah of Kooch Behar, Letter to ‘The Asian’....717............
C.A.S.W., ‘The Field,’ Oct. 25, 189044..561............
Sir S. Baker, ‘Wild Beasts and their Ways’54..about 600............
Average of good head......38..7......
Axis porcinus
Major Ward quotes a head......21..........‘Sportsman’s Guide to Ladak, &c.’
Mr. A. O. Hume......19¼..3⅛......Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
Sir V. Brooke......19⅛..3¼......”
Mr. H. C. V. Hunter......19⅛..3⅜......”
Major FitzHerbert274896............
”....9616¾..........
”25¾..98............
”25½5193............
”2552½9612..........
Major Greenaway28................
”24½................
Sterndale’s ‘Mammalia’27 to 2850 to 52..15 to 16..........
Average of good head......16..........
Axis maculatus
Forsyth, ‘Highlands of Central India’......38..........
Mr. A. O. Hume......37½..4½......Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
”......37⅜..4......”
Sir V. Brooke......37¼..4¼......”
Gen. Macintyre......37..4......‘Hindu Koh’
Mr. W. C. Oswell......36¾..4⅜......Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
Mr. C. H. Seeley......36½..4½......”
British Museum......36..4¼......”
Capt. V. Couper......36..........
Major FitzHerbert35¾70¼..32½..........
” (a hind)285886............
Major Greenaway37................
Sterndale’s ‘Mammalia’36 to 3854 to 60..Average 30..........
Average of good head......30..4......

Measurements

AuthorityHeight at shoulderTotal lengthWeight as shotLength of hornLength of brow antlerGirth above brow antlerGirth above burrPointsRemarks
Rucervus Duvaucelli
ins.ins.lbs.ins.ins.ins.ins.ins.
Major C. S. Cumberland......415½....6×6Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
”......39¼5....5×6”
Sir E. G. Loder, Bart.......37⅜5¼....7×6”
Col. Erskineabout 45....37714..7×7
Major Ward......36½5......‘Sportsman’s Guide to Ladak, &c.’
Mr. B. Hodgson......365....6×5Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
Sir V. Brooke......35⅜4⅞......”
Mr. H. C. V. Hunter......35¼5¾....7×6”
Major C. S. Cumberland......34¾5⅝....5×5”
British Museum......345½....5×5Head No. 694 A.
Major C. S. Cumberland......33½4¾....5×5Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
”......33⅛5½....5×5”
Rowland Ward....about 560..........”
Forsyth......33½......6×6‘Highlands of Central India’
Major FitzHerbert4982..30..10⅜....
”4781............
Sterndale’s ‘Mammalia’44 to 46....about 36......12 to 14
Average of good head......305....6×6
Rucervus Schomburgkii
British Museum......30⅛5....10×10Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
”......29⅞5⅛....9×8”
”......29¾4¾....10×11”
”......28¾5½....8×8Head No. 1463 A.
Sir V. Brooke......28½5¼....11×9Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
British Museum......27⅞5⅜....9×8”
”......27¾4⅜....7×8”
Panolia Eldii
Sir E. G. Loder, Bart.......39⅝5....20Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
British Museum......38⅞6¼....16×19”
”......37½5⅜....5×5”
Rowland Ward......376⅛10½....”
Mr. A. O. Hume......36⅛5½....4×3”
British Museum......35¾5⅜....4×5”
Hume Collection, British Museum......34⅞5½....6×6”
Mr. A. O. Hume......34⅝6⅛....5×6”
Hon. W. Rothschild......34⅛5....6×6”
Mr. J. Carr Saunders......345⅞....10×10”

The horns of Eld’s deer are very difficult to measure in the ordinary way, owing to the extreme smallness of the burr, the back of the beam in good specimens touching the skull, and because the brow antler does not form an angle with the beam, but is simply a prolongation of the curve of the horn.

XXVII. THE CASHMERE STAG (Cervus cashmirianus)—Sterndale, Kinloch. (Cervus Wallichii)—Jerdon, Ward

Cashmere: Hangal, Barasingh

This is the stag par excellence of India. A sambur has a fine head and so has a swamp deer, but neither approaches in beauty to a barasingh. A good stag’s head is one of the trophies of the Himalayas, but unfortunately it is getting scarcer year by year. Sheep and cattle affect this deer but little, as they keep more or less to the open downs and glades; but the yearly increasing herds of buffaloes that come up from the plains to graze in Cashmere during the summer, at the very time that the stags are growing their horns, are the real mischief-makers. Buffaloes delight in plunging through dense forest, and they and their attendants will clear the deer out of any valley. Unfortunately for the sportsman, buffaloes pay for their feeding in taxes and produce, while deer do not. The best step as regards preservation that the Cashmere authorities have taken as yet is the creation of a Royal Preserve between the Sindh and Liddur rivers, and if they would only exclude buffaloes from this tract entirely it would form a real sanctuary, which would immensely improve the shooting all round. At present, by allowing buffaloes to graze on it, they are depriving it of half its value.

In spite of all drawbacks stags are still to be got, but in no quantity. Two good heads in a month’s shooting are as many as any sportsman can reasonably hope to get, and if one of those measures 40 ins., whether with ten or twelve tines, he is to be congratulated.

The general impression about barasingh seems to be that a full-grown stag always has twelve points, but this the writer believes to be entirely erroneous. I have hunted over some of the best ground in Cashmere on different occasions, and am of opinion that the number of points usually found in full-grown heads depends entirely upon the locality. The stags which do not leave the Cashmere Valley, i.e. harbour on the hills overlooking it, and those that live to the south-east, often run to twelve and sometimes more points; while the stags which harbour across the Kishengunga rarely run to more than ten points. These stags appear to develop ten points very early; the poorest head the writer ever shot was a 10-pointer. I shot a young stag with only six points once, under circumstances that gave no opportunity of previously judging its head, and it had far longer and better horns than the above-mentioned 10-pointer. Crummle and antelope heads are also rare. I once shot a very heavy old stag with a most curious antelope head, the horns having not a tine on them, and being twisted more like a markhor’s than a stag’s. The old fellow was absolute king of the valley, too, and not another stag dared answer his challenge. It was very puzzling at the time. While stalking another stag which had called once among some thick bushes but would not show, the old antelope head appeared far up the hill, sauntering leisurely down, and challenging as he came. Every deer within hearing seemed to hide from him at once. There was a small 6-point stag with a hind cowering behind some bushes about two hundred yards to my right, while the deer that he had originally started after were keeping hidden somewhere to his left, and the old chieftain was coming straight towards him, singing his war-song. Over and over again were the glasses laid on him, but nothing could be made out. The body was that of a royal, but the horns were short, with no antlers visible. Apparently he was a bad three-year-old. What did it mean? If he were a big royal the respect shown him by the other stags was intelligible enough; but why should they be afraid of a beast like that? Fairly puzzled, I crept back to look for the stag I had originally come down after, which there was every reason to believe was a 10-pointer. Not a sign of him could be seen, but while pottering about in some long grass a pair of straight horns suddenly appeared within forty yards of me. Confound this brocket! he has walked on top of me; perhaps he may just miss me! No! he comes straight on and looks me in the face. Now the brute will drive everything away, so here goes—and he drops in his tracks. A brocket? Not a bit of it; twenty years old if he’s a day, and his quaint old head is the pick of the bag.

The general colour of barasingh is much the same as that of red deer, but is rather greyer, and the white patch on the rump appears a little larger. Sterndale says it has a white circle round the eyes, but the writer has never seen anything more distinct of this kind than a ring slightly paler than the rest of the head.

The horns resemble those of the red deer, with the notable exception that with barasingh the bez antler appears to be the fighting one, and is always longer and bigger than the brow antler, while with red deer the reverse is the case. Sir Victor Brooke says its call is just like that of a wapiti, and quite different from that of a red stag. ‘In the former it is a loud squeal, ending in a more guttural tone; in the latter it is a distinct roar, resembling that of a panther.’ According to the writer’s experience, the full call is seldom heard till the rutting season is at its height. When the stags first begin roaring the call is comparatively short. Ward’s remarks on the subject are well worth quoting: ‘The noise a stag can make when “roaring” is much louder than would be imagined, and can be heard at a great distance; but very often, when the animal is lying down, he only utters a prolonged moaning sound, which is very deceptive, and unless frequently repeated, it is difficult to find out the exact direction to follow.’

In the winter nearly all the barasingh are congregated in the Cashmere Valley, but though the smaller stags come down and are pretty easily found, the big ones will not leave the high ground, where it is impossible to follow them (unless they are driven down by an early fall of snow), until the young grass begins to grow in March, which is the best month to get heads, though of course the deer are then in poor condition. Ward writes about winter shooting:

If it could be done, the plan would be not to decide to enter the valley (i.e. Cashmere) until information of a really heavy fall in December or early in January had been obtained. The late falls of snow do not drive the deer down. The hazel buds are swelling, and they can graze on them; the sap is rising in various bushes and trees, and the deer can eat the smaller twigs, but an early fall forces the animals into the valleys.… In the spring, when the snow is melting, is, to my idea, far the best time, and I would sooner have from February 20 to March 20 after the stags than all the rest of the year. They are then down on the young green grass, and are busily devouring the crocuses.

By the end of March all the big stags and most of the smaller ones have shed their horns, and the deer collect into large herds and begin moving off to their summer quarters, those in the western corner of the valley going to the banks of the Kishengunga river. The herds which strike the river at its nearest point below Gurais cross it, and retire to the range of hills on the southern border of Astor. Only a very few stags cross this range, the bulk of the deer remaining on the Cashmere side. The deer on the northern and eastern sides of the valley retire to the slopes of Haramook and the high ground south of the range which separates Cashmere from Dras and Sooroo, but do not appear to cross it. The farther east one goes from Srinugger the less the deer appear to migrate, merely retiring to the heads of the valleys. The altitude of the birch copses just above the limit of the pines is what they seek, and this they can find close at hand on the north and east of the valley, but they have to travel some distance to it on the west. About September 1 the horns should be nearly free from velvet, and as a delicious wild black currant ripens at the same time, the shikaris associate the two. Up to September 20 the old stags are either alone or accompanied by a youngster who acts as fag, and they are not easy to find; in fact, as a rule, shikaris declare that it is useless trying to find them. But when the sportsman knows, from seeing tracks, that there are big stags on the ground, and the heads of the valleys (not the calling grounds) are the places to look for them, then, by carefully watching some glen where tracks have been seen, particularly just about 8 a.m. when the sun is getting hot, a stag may often be discovered as he rises from where he had lain down shortly after sunrise. He is about to move to a more sheltered spot to spend the day—and it is so satisfactory to have a stag or two to one’s credit before they begin to call. Unfortunately it is not always possible. Some of the best valleys during the calling season do not hold stags before that season begins, as the deer move on to them just then, and very often leave immediately afterwards. Good local information is absolutely necessary, and a shikari who does not know every soiling pool, every deer-path, or likely copse for a stag to lie up in is useless.

‘A SNAP-SHOT IN THE FOREST’

The calling season generally begins about September 20, and varies according to the weather, and also according to the moon. Fine hot weather and a full moon about the 20th mean that every stag in the place will be calling freely. Wet cold weather and no moon mean the reverse, the weather having more effect than the moon. The idea of the stage of the moon having any effect may be considered fanciful, but if it is taken into consideration that the stags usually begin calling at night and almost invariably fight their battles for supremacy then, it follows that the light of the moon is a decided advantage. A good set-to between two old barasingh stags would be a grand sight. The writer once came across a battle-field, but too late to witness the fight, and the way the turf was ploughed up bore testimony to the severity of the struggle. The rutting season appears to be initiated by the hinds; at least I have observed that the short bark of the hinds is usually heard some days before the roar of the stags, and have seen a stag come best pace out of the forest in answer to a hind’s call in the early morning, before a stag’s challenge had been heard on the ground. It is most amusing to watch a young stag calling, the way he swaggers before his lady-love, tearing up the turf with feet and horns as if nothing could drive him from her, till his challenge is answered by a deeper note, when the youngster curls up at once, flees for his life to the thickest scrub he can find half a mile away and cowers among the bushes, while his mate in the most matter-of-fact way at once attaches herself to his lordly rival, who comes swaggering easily along the hillside with the sunbeams glancing from the burnished points of his glorious antlers. A small calling stag should never be disturbed, as he almost invariably draws out a better beast. Great care, too, should be taken not to frighten away unattached hinds anywhere near a calling ground. If left alone they will sooner or later be joined by stags, though occasionally hinds will run from a stag just as if they had scented a man. The writer on one occasion was watching a hind and calf feeding, when they suddenly galloped off, and presently an old stag came trotting down the hill grunting his displeasure and following their scent like a hound, till, coming within range, he paid the penalty. Probably owing to the scarcity of hinds, even the best stags appear never to be able to collect more than two or three, not counting calves, which seem always to run with their dams for a year.

Old writers talk of stags calling all day long. This may have been so years ago; now-a-days they rarely call after 9 a.m., and do not begin again before 3 p.m. at the earliest. I once heard a grand chorus in the early morning. Five different stags were calling at the same time, but as they seemed to be more or less afraid of one another and kept perpetually on the move, I never got a chance at one of them.

To be successful with stags during the calling season, the sportsman should be on his ground as soon as it is light. The stags are moving about all night, and soon after sunrise they retire into the forest, where, unless they keep on calling, it is almost impossible to find them. This, of course, refers to the open ground at the top of the hills. Ward prefers the lower ground in the pine forest, from 8,000 to 9,000 ft. above the sea level, as he says the stags there seem to settle down into certain spots and remain there for days together. The writer’s own experience is that the upper ground is best when the stags first begin calling, as they all seem to collect there, and that later on, about October 1, when there has often been a slight snowfall on the top of the hills, and the frost at night is beginning to tell, the stags should be followed down into the forest. But as different valleys vary so much, according to whether the deer remain in them during the winter or are merely passing through, no general rule applies to all. Hunting the upper ground as long as the stags are on it is undoubtedly far pleasanter than creeping about in the forest down below, and in the gloom of the pines the chances are very much against the stalker. Stags may occasionally be shot by waiting for them at some favourite soiling or drinking pool, and it is by no means a bad thing to try if the pool is in thick forest and some distance from other water. The most likely time to see anything is about 4 p.m., when the deer begin to draw out. Waiting over salt-licks and water at night is an abomination, like all other night shooting. As a rule, you do more harm than good by disturbing the ground, and if you do get a shot and hit (no certain matter even in the brightest moonlight), unless the stag is dropped on the spot you run a very great risk of losing him. Barasingh are very tough beasts, and an ill-placed bullet is not much use. It is very difficult to know what to do when (as often happens) the stags will not call till just before dark. If this happens among the pine forests, any attempt at night shooting is almost sure to end in failure; and even on the high open ground the chances are so much against the sportsman that it should only be tried if every other plan fails. Patient tracking and watching over likely glades for a stag to draw out on are far more effective in bringing eventual success. The two main points to be remembered during a stalk are, first, to try and get a clear chance at about sixty yards, and not creep up too close to the stag before firing; secondly, to avoid going straight downhill on to a stag. A stone dislodged, a pheasant or musk deer disturbed, will be sure to start him off. On the other hand, if the stalker is moving down sixty or seventy yards to one side, any slight contretemps does not necessarily spoil his chance of a shot. Every native shikari, if conducting a stalk, will try to land his master between the beast’s horns if possible. As soon as he sees a stag, he will begin to try to point him out, with the result that before his master can get his wind and take any aim to speak of, the beast is at full gallop down the hill. The second point never enters into a native’s calculations at all. Ward says that natives can imitate the call, and draw stags, but systematic calling as practised in the Tyrol is practically unknown in Cashmere, and a proficient in the art would undoubtedly have success. The point to aim at in calling is to pitch your note a little weaker than the answering stag, so as to give him confidence in accepting the challenge.

A stalk in the open

The stags generally cease calling towards the end of October (Ward says 20th), and after that there is little chance of getting sport till the snow drives them down, or, failing an early fall, till the spring.

Major Ward says a well-shaped 10-point head of 40 ins. should not be despised, but the majority of heads shot, according to the writer’s experience, do not average more than 37 ins.; 40 ins. and over being exceptional heads.

XXVIII. THE SIKKIM STAG (Cervus affinis vel Wallichi)

Native name: ‘Shou.’ Habitat: Eastern Himalayas; Thibet, in the Choombi Valley, on the Sikkim side of Thibet (Sterndale)

None of the heads of this variety in the British Museum have more than ten points. Their colour, according to Jerdon, is a fine clear grey in winter, with a moderately large disc; pale rufous in summer, quite different from the rich mouse colour of the barasingh. Hodgson’s description of the horns is most accurate, the flatness of the brow antlers is very marked, ‘pedicles elevate; burrs rather small; two basal antlers, nearly straight, so forward in direction as to overshadow the face to the end of the nasal; larger than the royal antlers; median or royal antlers directed forwards and upwards; beam with a terminal fork, the prongs radiating laterally and equally, the inner one longest and thinnest.’ There is an enormous head in the British Museum, the two brow antlers of which bend downwards on each side. As in the case of the barasingh, the second brow antler, or bez, is always longer than the first.

As regards the allied maral stag of Persia and Turkestan, Major Cumberland, in his letters published by ‘Land and Water,’ 1891, writes that the Turkestan name for the stag is ‘bōghè,’ the hind being called ‘maral.’ This deer resembles the red stag, in that the brow antler is longer than the bez, and the crown is more of the wapiti type.

Another variety, with horns also of the wapiti type, Cervus Eustephanus, was discovered by Mr. W. Blanford in the Thian Shan mountains. He describes this variety as also having the brow antler longer than the bez.

XXIX. MUSK DEER (Moschus moschiferus)

Generally ‘Kastura’; Garwhal and Kumaon, ‘Bena,’ ‘Masaknaba’; Cashmere, ‘Roos,’ ‘Rous’

This little deer is found all over the hills above an altitude of 7,000 or 8,000 ft., except in Ladak, though it is said to be plentiful in Thibet, beyond the frontier of Nepal.

Cover of some sort, bushes or timber, seems necessary for it, and the want of this is probably the reason it does not extend to Ladak. Except that district, every shooting ground of the right elevation seems to hold musk deer; and as, particularly in the autumn, they are excellent eating, a chance with a light rifle is well worth taking advantage of, unless in too close proximity to better game. The musk deer has no horns, but the male has two delicate curved tushes, growing down from the upper jaw, which are often over three inches in length outside the gums; these tushes being the only distinguishing mark between the sexes, it is very hard to tell them apart at a distance.

Measurements

AuthorityHeight at shoulderLength nose to tip of tailTailGirth of bodyWeight as shotLength of hornsGirth above brow antlerGirth, beam midwayBurrLength brow antlerLength bez antlerGirth bez antlerLength median antlerSplay at tipsWidest spreadInside spanPointsRemarks
Cervus cashmirianus
ins.ins.ins.ins.lbs.ins.ins.ins.ins.ins.ins.ins.ins.ins.ins.ins.ins.
Dr. Leith Adams..........48......................Sterndale, ‘Mammalia’
Major Ward..........477¾............2956..13‘Sportsman’s Guide’
”49½......400........................”
Sir E. G. Loder, Bart...........476¾............21¾..36⅜5×5Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
Major Ward..........468............3250..12‘Sportsman’s Guide’
‘Oriental Sporting Magazine,’ 1870..........46..71018..............
Sir V. Brooke..........45⅝6............25¾..368×8Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
Hume Collection, British Museum..........45⅞8............35..416×6”
Hon. C. Ellis..........43⅞5⅞............15⅞..325×5”
”..........43⅜6½............25⅜..36½..”
Hume Collection, British Museum..........43¼6½............18⅛..34½5×5”
Dr. Falconer, Brit. Mus...........435⅞............6¼..27¾5×5”
Mr. M. Kennard..........435⅞............26⅛..37⅞6×5”
Gen. Macintyre..........42..7¼10½....5½......3310‘Hindu Koh’
British Museum..........425⅞............29⅜..33½6×5Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
Major Greenaway5281..............................
The Writer4785............................10Showing normal difference between brow & bez antlers
”..........36¾....811¼14½....2535..10
”..........35½5½..810½15½......35..10
Sterndale, ‘Mammalia’48 to 5284 to 905............................
Average of good head..........376..................6×6
Cervus affinis
Mr. A. O. Hume..........55¾6½............17¼..40⅜7×6Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
British Museum..........55¼8½7¼111419¼..........5×5
Lord Northbrook..........559⅛..................6×7Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
Dr. Campbell, British Museum..........54⅜6⅝............21⅝..37¼5×5”
Dr. Jerdon quotes a head..........54........12..8..47....Sterndale, ‘Mammalia’
Mr. B. H. Hodgson, British Museum..........53¾6⅞............26⅛..445×5Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
Hume Collection, British Museum..........53¼6⅞............30..45¾4×5”
Col. Tanner..........539................405×5”
British Museum..........52¼10¼6½10⅛1213..........5×5”
Rowland Ward..........528....................Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
”about 60................................
Sterndale, ‘Mammalia’54 to 60about 96..............................
Cervus maral
British Museum..........48⅝6⅛............38¼..40⅞6×5Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
”..........46½87½11¼15½14½..........5×5
Mr. E. Buxton..........43½................38½..14‘Nineteenth Century,’ 1891
Hume Collection, British Museum..........40¼5½............23¾..31¾5×5Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
”..........35⅛5½............19¾..265×5”
Major Cumberland55....57½........................10‘Land & Water,’ 1891
Cervus Eustaphanus
Mr. Blanford, ‘Scientific Results, Second Yarkand Mission’..........5110⁹⁄₁₀....................Girth above burr 10½ ins.
Red Deer from Tyrol, &c.
Lord Powerscourt, ‘Pro. Zoo. Soc., 1862’..........68................65..44From Carpathians? Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
Col. Howard..........49¾..7½11¼18¼........49¾..14Vienna Exhibition
H.R.H. Duke of Edinburgh..........48½..6..........3041½..5×6(Crimea) Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
Lord A. Hay, British Museum..........48⅛..7¼................12Single horn, Asia Minor, Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
St. George Littledale..........47⅝..5½..........38....6×5Caucasus, Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
Col. Howard..........47¼..7½10¾15........50..16Vienna Exhibition
Sir V. Brooke..........47⅛..7¼..........34..41⅛8×9Germany, Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
St. George Littledale..........47..7⅛..........36..37¾6×7Caucasus, Rowland Ward, ‘Horn Measurements’
Col. Howard........596........................Weight of best stags killed in last 8 or 10 years, from Perechinko
”........564........................” Munkacs
”........544........................” Pomerania
”........544........................” Bukowina
”........540........................” Munkacs
”........540........................” Sieben Bergen
”........516........................” East Prussia
”........508........................” Lower Austria
”........500........................” Slavonia

The hair of the musk deer seems always loose, and comes out readily. A musk deer just grazed by a bullet (by no means an uncommon occurrence with so small a beast) seems to vanish in a cloud of hair. The male has an abdominal gland containing more or less musk according to the season, it being fullest during the rutting season in the winter; this pod is valuable (a good one is worth Rs. 5 in the jungle), and leads to the musk deer being so mercilessly snared and hunted by natives that in many districts they are almost extinct. Pine martens, wild dogs, leopards, eagles, all seem to prey upon the unhappy musk deer, and if it were not that they breed far more rapidly than other deer (according to Hodgson being able to procreate before they are a year old), they would have no chance of existence at all.

When a musk deer has been killed the pod should be cut off in the presence of the sportsman, and hung up in his tent to dry; if the shikari is allowed to meddle with it, he will probably extract the musk, and fill up the pod with rubbish. Another very common trick is for the shikari to present his master with the buck’s scrotum, and keep the pod for himself.

Musk deer are generally found alone or in pairs, and as they keep a great deal to their particular bit of ground, if one has been seen and not fired at the sportsman may nearly always rely upon finding it again near the same place. When startled this deer gives a low hiss, and as it seldom runs far without stopping to gaze, it generally affords an easy shot. Musk deer are occasionally a nuisance on barasingh ground, and the writer once lost a shot by putting up one of them just as he was getting up to a stag which was calling in the forest.

Measurements.—Sterndale gives length about 36 ins., height about 22 ins. Major Ward, height about 22 ins., weight from 25 lbs. to 30 lbs. Colonel Kinloch says it does not stand more than 20 ins., Jerdon 22 or 23 ins.

In Garwhal and Kumaon musk deer appear to be bigger and heavier than in Cashmere.