File:Sport on the Nilgiris and in Wynaad (1911) (14595805799).jpg

Identifier: sportonnilgirisi00flet (find matches)
Title: Sport on the Nilgiris and in Wynaad
Year: 1911 (1910s)
Authors: Fletcher, F. W. F
Subjects: Hunting
Publisher: London, Macmillan
Contributing Library: Boston Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston Public Library

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led by wrong names. He is universally knownas the jungle sheep, whereas he has no morerelation to the sheep than to the elephant, being a truedeer. So far as India is concerned, he is the solerepresentative of the genus—Cervulus—in which he isplaced, a genus which differs from Cervus chiefly in thefollowing respects :— Cervttlus, short horns on long pedicels. Phalangesto lateral digits absent. Cervus, long horns on short pedicels. Phalangesto lateral digits present. The muntjac is found throughout India, Burma, andCeylon, his habitat being similar to, and thereforeroughly co-terminous with, that of the sambur, viz., onall jungle-clad hills. His colour is a rich chestnut red,deeper on the back, face, and legs. The lowersurface of the body is mostly white, from the chin tothe end of the tail. A black line runs along the insideof the pedicels and facial ribs. In a skull the latterwill be seen to be continuations of the pedicels, andthey meet at an acute angle above the snout. These
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THE MUNTJAC 391 bony ridges on the face, with their distinct blackcolouring, give this little deer a very curiousappearance. The horns are two-tined, the beam not beingbifurcated at the tip as in other deer. The brow tineis very short, and not infrequently the beam carriessports or snags. In one head I shot, there is a sportmidway between brow-tine and tip of horn which isconsiderably longer than the former. The pedicelsdiverge throughout their length : from their summitsthe horns rise almost perpendicularly, while the tipscurve rapidly inward, backward, and downward. Thebeam is not round as in the sambur and spotted deer,but has a knife-edge in front and behind. Thispeculiarity is more marked in mature than in youngbucks. In the female a tuft of hair replaces the horn.The buck sheds his horns in April and May, and is inhard horn again by August. Burke writes:—The best Indian specimen of whichwe have particulars is nine inches (pedicel four inches,horn five inches) got in the Garo H

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