The beautiful Mesopotamian Fallow Deer, found in the mountains of Luristan, in Mesopotamian Persia, is somewhat larger than the common species, while its coat is much more brightly coloured. The antlers bear little resemblance to those seen in the park-deer of this country, being far less palmated and spreading, and more vertical.
The enormous horns of the extinct deer once known as Irish Elk are now considered by naturalists to be those of a gigantic species of fallow deer. By the kindness of Mr. J. G. Millais, I am enabled to give the dimensions of a pair of antlers of one of these wonderful beasts from his museum. These antlers measure in spread, from tip to tip, 9 feet 4 inches; length round inside of right horn, 6 feet; round left horn, 5 feet 8 inches,—a marvellous trophy, truly. This specimen was dug up in County Waterford. These colossal fallow deer, which roamed the wastes of Ireland in prehistoric times, must have afforded fairly exciting sport to the feebly armed human beings who then existed.
The Sambar, or Rusine Deer.
Photo by Miss E. J. Beck.
A SAMBAR STAG.
The only Indian deer of which the fawns are unspotted.
Sambar may be shortly described as large deer, having rough, shaggy coats, and big, rugged antlers of simple type, usually displaying but three tines. They belong to the group known as Typical Deer, although they are but distantly connected with the red deer. The colour of the coat is usually dark umber-brown, marked with chestnut about the rump and under-parts. The well-known sambar of India stands as much as 5 feet 4 inches at the withers, and weighs, before being cleaned, some 600 lbs. The longest pair of antlers yet recorded (Rowland Ward's "Records of Big Game") measure 48 inches in length over the outer curve. Usually to be found among jungly, wooded hills and mountains in many parts of India and Ceylon, this fine stag affords first-rate sport, and is much sought after by shikaris. It is to be met with in small troops of from four to a dozen, or singly, while during the rutting-season the animals rove in more considerable herds. In jungle and thickly forested regions it is a hard matter to come up with the sambar on foot, and it is there usually shot from elephant-back, by the aid of beaters. In more open hill country it affords good stalking. In Ceylon it is hunted with hounds, and yields in this way also capital sport. These animals seem to revel in heat, and love to shelter themselves in hot, stifling valleys; they drink only once in two or three days. It is a noticeable feature in connection with the antlers of the sambar that they are not invariably shed annually, as with most of the deer kind. In Ceylon, according to Sir Samuel Baker, they are shed "with great irregularity every third or fourth year."
Photo by Miss E. J. Beck.