| Length of horns. | Girth above brow antler. | Divergency at tips. | Where obtained. | |
| Inches. | Inches. | Greatest. | Least. | |
| 47 | 7¾ | 56 in. | 29 in. | Sindh Valley |
| 46 | 8 | 50 in. | 32 in. | Sindh Valley |
I once saw a beautiful head at a railway-station, the property of an officer who had just come down from Kashmir, the horns of which appeared to me enormous. The owner afterwards travelled with me in the train, and gave me his card, which I regret I lost, and, having forgotten his name, I was never enabled to write to him, either on the subject of the horns or to send him some papers he wanted on Asiatic sheep.
Dr. Leith Adams writes: "They (the horns) are shed in March, and the new horn is not completely formed till the end of October, when the rutting season commences, and the loud bellowings of the stags are heard all over the mountains." Of this bellowing Sir Victor Brooke says it is just like the voice of the Wapiti stag, which this animal closely resembles, and is quite different from that of the red deer. "In the former it is a loud squeal, ending in a more gutteral tone; in the latter it is a distinct roar, resembling that of a panther." Sir Victor Brooke also points out another peculiarity in this deer: namely, that "the second brow antler (bez) in Cervus Cashmirianus, with very rare exceptions, exceeds the brow antler in length; a peculiarity by which the antlers of this species may be distinguished from those of its allies."
The female gives birth in April, and the young are spotted.
The points on which this stag differs from the maral are the longer and more pointed head of the latter.
[NO. 477. CERVUS AFFINIS vel WALLICHII.]
The Sikhim Stag (Jerdon's No. 218).
NATIVE NAME.—Shou, Thibetan.
HABITAT.—Eastern Himalayas; Thibet in the Choombi valley, on the Sikhim side of Thibet.
DESCRIPTION.—Jerdon describes this stag as "of very large size; horns bifurcated at the tip in all specimens yet seen; horns pale, smooth, rounded, colour a fine clear grey in winter, with a moderately large disk; pale rufous in summer." Hodgson writes of the horns: "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 forward and upwards; beam with a terminal fork, the prongs radiating laterally and equally, the inner one longest and thinnest." Jerdon adds: "Compared with the Kashmir stag this one has the beam still more bent at the origin of the median tine, and thus more removed from C. elaphus, and like C. Wallichii (C. Cashmirianus)." The second basal tine or bez antler is generally present, even in the second pair of horns assumed. Moreover the simple bifurcation of the crown mentioned above is a still more characteristic point of difference both from the Kashmir barasingha and the stag of Europe.
Regarding the nomenclature of this species there seems to be some uncertainty. Jerdon himself was doubtful whether the shou was not C. Wallichii, and the Kashmir stag C. Cashmirianus. He says: "It is a point reserved for future travellers and sportsmen to ascertain the limits of C. Wallichii east and C. affinis west, for, as Dr. Sclater remarks, it would be contrary to all analogy to find two species of the same type inhabiting one district."