Photo by the Duchess of Bedford] [Woburn Abbey.
FEMALE SIBERIAN ROE.
The absence of a tail, characteristic of all roes, is well shown.
The Muntjacs, or Barking-deer, are a group of small deer found in India, Burma, and the Malay region. The Indian Muntjac stands about 2 feet in height, and weighs some 28 lbs. The antlers, which average 5 or 6 inches in length, bear two points—brow-tine and beam; the lower portions, or pedicles, are curiously covered with hair, and the front of the face is ribbed or ridged in V fashion. The general colour is a golden bay, the face and limbs brown, and the lower parts white. The buck has sharp tusks in the upper jaw, and, at a pinch, knows how to make use of them. A shy, stealthy little creature, the muntjac loves dense cover, and the sportsman usually obtains but a quick snapshot at this active and wary little deer as it flashes across him much as does a bolting rabbit scuttling across a narrow drive. Local Indian names for the barking-deer are Jungle-sheep, Red Hog-deer, and Rib-faced Deer. Other muntjacs, varying somewhat from the Indian form, are the Hairy-fronted, the Tenasserim, the Tibetan, and the Chinese Muntjacs.
Tufted Deer.
Near relatives of the odd little muntjacs are the Tufted Deer, of which two species, the Tibetan and Michie's, are known to naturalists. The former, found in Eastern Tibet, is about the size of the Indian muntjac, and has a coat of dark chocolate-brown, curiously speckled on the face, neck, and fore parts; the frontal tuft is nearly black. The antlers of the bucks of both this and Michie's deer are extremely small, scarcely observable at a first glance. Both species have long curving tusks projecting from the upper jaw. Michie's tufted deer is of a greyish-black or iron-grey colour, the face and neck dark grey. This animal is found in the reed-beds bordering the Ningpo and other rivers in Eastern China.
By permission of Herr Carl Hagenbeck] [Hamburg.
SIBERIAN ROEBUCK.
Shows a magnificent pair of antlers.