Very shortly after the above-mentioned skins arrived at Paris, Mr.
Michie, of Shanghai, forwarded to Mr. Swinhoe in England another
specimen from Ningpo, which, although derived so far east of Moupin, is
almost indistinguishable from that belonging to the latter district.
The animal is there known as the “Shanyang,” or Wild Goat. It is an
undoubted Muntjac, although peculiar in not possessing the glands on
the forehead found in the more common species.
THE ROEBUCK.[39]
This elegant, small, and almost tailless Deer is, like the Red Deer,
a native of Great Britain, as well as of all Northern Europe and Asia
below the line of perpetual snow. In Asia the individuals attain a
greater size than in Europe. The adult Roebuck stands a little over
two feet high at the shoulder. Its colour is a dark reddish-brown in
summer, becoming yellowish-grey in the cold weather. There is a large
patch of white on the rump. The antlers, which are peculiarly near
together at their bases, rarely exceed a foot in length, possessing
three points, the rugose unbranched beam continuing from the
considerable burr for half a foot unbranched; then bifurcating fore
and aft, the posterior branch again bifurcating. The destruction of
the forests throughout Britain has driven the Roebuck farther north,
till now it is most common in the north of Scotland, although it still
survives in the woods of Westmoreland and Cumberland. Its disposition
is wild, shy, and cautious. Its favourite resort is the thick underwood
of forests, living singly or in small companies of a pair with their
young, which latter--contrary to what we find in the case of most other
Deer--are two or three in number. Its venison makes very indifferent
food.
[Illustration: ROEBUCK: MALE, FEMALE, AND YOUNG.]
THE CHINESE WATER DEER.[40]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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