Among the members of this genus, Cervus (Elaphurus) davidianus is interesting as having been first observed by the missionary Père David in a park belonging to the Emperor of China near Pekin. Its horns are remarkable for dividing early into two branches of equal length, of which the anterior again branches into two. Specimens of this Deer were ultimately obtained for the Zoological Society's Gardens.
The species of Cervus are fairly distributed between the Palaearctic and the Indian regions. The Palaearctic species, such as Lühdorff's Deer (Fig. 152), are mainly Asiatic. Cervus elaphus and Cervus dama alone are European and British. The former of course is the Red Deer, the latter the Fallow Deer. The Red Deer is reddish-brown in summer and greyish-brown in winter, with the white patch on the rump so common in the Deer tribe. The Red Deer is genuinely wild in Scotland, in certain parts of Devonshire and Westmoreland, and in the New Forest. At the beginning of the last century, according to Gilbert White, there were 500 head of deer in Wolmer Forest, which were inspected by Queen Anne. The antlers may have as many as forty-eight points; and a stag with more than the three anterior tines is termed a "Royal Hart." The Fallow Deer has
palmated antlers, and is usually spotted. It seems to be an introduced species, common report pointing to the Romans as the introducers. It would be more correct to say "re-introduced," for fossil remains of this Deer have been met with.
Fig. 152.—Lühdorff's Deer. Cervus luehdorffi. × 1⁄15. (From Nature.)
Elaphodus[[192]] contains probably two species, E. cephalophus of Milne-Edwards and E michianus of Swinhoe, both from China. The antlers are small and unbranched; the canines in the male are massive; it differs from Cervulus, to which it is closely allied, principally in the absence of frontal glands. The second
species has a dark iron-grey pelage, and the late Mr. Consul Swinhoe described it as very Goat-like in aspect.
Capreolus.—The Roe Deer has fairly complex antlers. It is a small Deer and has spotted young. The common Roe Deer, C. capraea, is a native of this country. It is the smallest of our Deer, and its antlers only have three tines in stags of the third year. It is a singular fact about this Deer that though the pairing season is in July and August, the young are not born until the following May or June, a period which does not represent that of gestation. The germ remains dormant for some time before developing.
Fig. 153.—Mule Deer. Cariacus macrotis. × 1⁄15. (From Nature.)