The Cambridge natural history, Vol. 10 (of 10)Beddard, Frank E. (Frank Evers)
Science
The Cambridge natural history, Vol. 10 (of 10)
Beddard, Frank E. (Frank Evers)
Animals; Mammals
The species of _Cervus_ are fairly distributed between the Palaearctic and
the Indian regions. The Palaearctic species, such as Luehdorff's Deer (Fig.
152), are mainly Asiatic. _Cervus elaphus_ and _Cervus dama_ alone are
European and British. The former of course is the Red Deer, the latter the
Fallow Deer. The Red Deer is reddish-brown in summer and greyish-brown in
winter, with the white patch on the rump so common in the Deer tribe. The
Red Deer is genuinely wild in Scotland, in certain parts of Devonshire and
Westmoreland, and in the New Forest. At the beginning of the last century,
according to Gilbert White, there were 500 head of deer in Wolmer Forest,
which were inspected by Queen Anne. The antlers may have as many as
forty-eight points; and a stag with more than the three anterior tines is
termed a "Royal Hart." The Fallow Deer has {294} palmated antlers, and is
usually spotted. It seems to be an introduced species, common report
pointing to the Romans as the introducers. It would be more correct to say
"re-introduced," for fossil remains of this Deer have been met with.
[Illustration]
FIG. 152.--Luehdorff's Deer. _Cervus luehdorffi._ x 1/15. (From _Nature_.)
_Elaphodus_[200] contains probably two species, _E. cephalophus_ of
Milne-Edwards and _E michianus_ of Swinhoe, both from China. The antlers
are small and unbranched; the canines in the male are massive; it differs
from _Cervulus_, to which it is closely allied, principally in the absence
of frontal glands. The second {295} species has a dark iron-grey pelage,
and the late Mr. Consul Swinhoe described it as very Goat-like in aspect.
_Capreolus._--The Roe Deer has fairly complex antlers. It is a small Deer
and has spotted young. The common Roe Deer, _C. capraea_, is a native of
this country. It is the smallest of our Deer, and its antlers only have
three tines in stags of the third year. It is a singular fact about this
Deer that though the pairing season is in July and August, the young are
not born until the following May or June, a period which does not represent
that of gestation. The germ remains dormant for some time before
developing.
[Illustration]
FIG. 153.--Mule Deer. _Cariacus macrotis._ x 1/15. (From _Nature_.)
The Muntjacs, _Cervulus_, form a distinct generic type confined to the
Indian and the South-Eastern Palaearctic region. They are small Deer with
spotted young, and short one-branched antlers placed upon pedicels as long
as themselves. The canines are strongly developed in the males. There are
about half-a-dozen species.
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