The Roebuck, another species of our parks, is indigenous to both England and Scotland. It is now found plentiful only in the northern parts of Great Britain. It is a native also of Italy, Sweden, Norway, and Siberia.
The African Deer consist of two species, supposed to be varieties of red deer. They are found in Barbary, and usually known as the Barbary Deer. But the fallow-deer also exists in North Africa, in the woods of Tunis and Algiers; and Cuvier has asserted that the fallow-deer originally came from Africa. This is not probable, since they are at present met with over the whole continent of Asia, even in China itself.
We now arrive at the species more especially termed Asiatic or Indian Beer. These form a numerous group, containing species that differ essentially from each other.
There is the Ritsa, or Great Black Stag of the Japanese and Sumatrans. It is named black stag, from its dark brown colour during winter. It is fully as large as our own stag; and is further distinguished by long hair growing upon the upper part of its neck, cheeks, and throat, which gives it the appearance of having a beard and mane! It inhabits Bengal, and some of the large Indian islands.
The Samboo, or Sambur, is another large species, not unlike the rusa. It is found in various parts of India, and especially in the tropical island of Ceylon. Several varieties of it have been described by naturalists.
In the Himalaya Mountains there exist two or three species of large deer, not very well-known. One is the Saul Forest Stag, or Bara-singa—a species almost as large as the Canadian wapiti. Another is the Marl, or Wallich’s Stag, which is also found in Persia. Still another species, the Sika, inhabits Japan; and yet another, the Baringa, or Spotted Deer of the Sunderbunds, dwells along the marshy rivers of this last-mentioned territory. Again, there is the Spotted Rusa, and other species, inhabitants of the Saul Forests. In fact, the number of species of Indian deer is far from being accurately ascertained, to say nothing of the very imperfect descriptions given of those that are actually known.
When we come to the great Oriental islands—the Isles of Ind—we find many new and beautiful species; some being large noble stags, while others are tiny graceful little creatures like gazelles.
In Sumatra and Borneo we have a distinct species of Sambur Deer; in Timor a smaller one; a third exists in Java; and a fourth in the Philippines. In Java, too, we find the beautiful little Muntjak; and another tiny variety in China, called the Chinese Muntjak.
Returning again to the Himalaya country, we encounter, in the plains south of this great chain, the Spotted Axis, so well-known from its beautiful markings, which resemble those of the fawn of our own fallow-deer. But it may be remarked that there are two or three species of spotted deer, and that they inhabit the plains of India—from the Himalayas southward to the Island of Ceylon. Ascending these great mountains, we encounter among their lower slopes another very singular species of cervine creature—the Musk Deer—which, though but little known, is one of the most interesting of its tribe; especially so, as it is from the secreting glands of this curious little animal that most of the celebrated perfume of commerce is obtained.
Crossing the Himalayas, and advancing northwards, we find upon the plains of Central Asia a species of deer, known among the Tartars as Siaga, and to our own naturalists as the Tail-less Roe. Several species entirely unknown to scientific men will yet be discovered, when the immense steppes of Asia come to be explored by observers capable of describing and classifying.