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LARGER IMAGE
GIRAFFES.
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LARGER IMAGE
CHAPTER IV.
THE CERVIDÆ, OR ANTLERED RUMINANTS: THE ELK, ELAPHINE, SUB-ELAPHINE, AND RUSINE DEER.
The Deer Tribe—Distinguishing Characters—Exceptions to the rule—The Musk (Deer) and Chinese Water Deer—Other Characters of the Cervidæ—Antlers, their Nature, Growth, and Shedding—The Knob—“Velvet”—Getting rid of the “Velvet”—Full equipment—Contests—Interlocking Antlers—Distribution—Classification—[Development of Antlers in the Common RED DEER]—Explanation of the various stages—Splendid “Heads”—Simple and Complex Antlers—Types of Antlers—[THE ELK, OR MOOSE DEER]—Appearance—Antlers—Habits—Hunting—[THE ELAPHINE DEER]—[THE RED DEER]—Distribution—Appearance—Hunting—[THE WAPITI]—Acting of the Fawns—[THE PERSIAN DEER, OR MARAL]—[THE CASHMERIAN DEER, OR BARASINGHA]—Habits and General Appearance—[BARBARY DEER]—[SUB-ELAPHINE DEER]—[THE JAPANESE, FORMOSAN, AND MANTCHURIAN DEER]—[THE FALLOW DEER]—Peculiarity of its Antlers—[THE PERSIAN FALLOW DEER]—[THE RUSINE DEER]—[THE SAMBUR, OR GEROW]—Habits—Species of Java, Formosa, Sumatra, Borneo, Timor, Ternate, and The Philippines—[THE HOG DEER]—[THE AXIS DEER]—[PRINCE ALFRED’S DEER]—[THE SWAMP DEER]—[SCHOMBURGK’S DEER]—[ELD’S DEER, OR THE THAMYN]—Description—Habits—Hunting—Shameful havoc
THE Deer tribe, known scientifically as that of the CERVIDÆ, is more circumscribed, and therefore better defined, than are the BOVIDÆ, or hollow-horned ruminants. Their best distinguishing character is that in the males there is each year developed a pair of antlers which is shed at the end of the season to be reproduced in the following spring. The females do not carry antlers, except in the case of the Reindeer, in which, although these elegant appendages are of the same form as in their mates, they are constructed upon a much smaller scale. There are, however, one or two Deer in which not even the males carry antlers, and these are the only members of the family with reference to which there is any serious doubt on the subject of affinity. The Musk (Moschus moschiferus) may be taken as an example. In this pretty creature, which is more fully described on pages 42–3, there are no antlers and no horns. Nevertheless, other peculiarities in its organisation have led most naturalists to include it among the Cervidæ, a position which is, however, so doubtful that it is quite possible that it may be an aberrant member of the bovine section, as we have for several reasons thought best to consider it.
A more certain Deer without antlers is the Water Deer of China, the flesh of which has formed an article of food among the natives of Shanghai for years. This small Deer has lengthy tusks, as has the Musk Deer, and nearly every member of the family in which the antlers are diminutive. Its very existence was not known in Great Britain until the year 1862, when Mr. Swinhoe, then our consul at Shanghai, described it, which shows how ignorant we still may be of the creatures which inhabit the mighty Celestial Empire.
In most other respects the Deer closely resemble the hollow-horned ruminants. Their complicated stomach does not differ from that of the Ox, and their other organs are constructed upon the same plan, except the liver, which, like that of the Giraffe, lacks a gall-bladder, this reservoir being present in nearly all the Bovidæ. Their general proportions are also much the same. The Red Deer and the Fallow Deer are those best known to most of us, as both are to be found living in Great Britain, as is the Roebuck in the north of Scotland.