oken! Suddenly the buck wheels round, facing the quarter whence
the sound proceeded. Look at him now, and say, is he not a quarry
well worth the hunter's notice?

"With head erect, antlers thrown back, his white throat exposed, his
tail raised, his whole body gathered together, prepared to bound away
into the deep forest in the twinkling of an eye, he stands a splendid
specimen of the cervine tribe. We will not kill him; we look and
admire! A doe suddenly gives that imperceptible signal to which I
have formerly alluded, and the next moment the whole herd has dashed
through the bamboo alleys, vanishing from sight--a dappled hide now
and again gleaming in the sunlight as its owner scampers away to more
distant haunts."

Jerdon is a follower of Hodgson, who was of opinion that there are
two species of spotted deer--a larger and smaller, the latter
inhabiting Southern India; but there is no reason for adopting this
theory; both Blyth, Gray, and others have ignored this, and the most
that can be conceded is that the southern animal is a variety owing
to climatic conditions. Multiplication of species is a thing to be
avoided of all naturalists--I have, therefore, not separated them.
McMaster too writes: "I cannot agree with Jerdon that there are two
species of spotted deer." And he had experience in Southern India
as well as in other parts. He states that the finest _chital_ he ever
came across were found in the forests in Goomsoor, where, he adds,
"as in every other part of Orissa, both spotted deer and sambar are,
I think, more than usually large."

NO. 473. AXIS PORCINUS.
_The Hog Deer_ (_Jerdon's No. 222_).

NATIVE NAMES.--_Para_, Hindi; Jerdon also gives _Khar-laguna_,
Nepal Terai; _Sugoria_ also in some parts. _Nuthurini-haran_ in some
parts of Bengal; _Weel-mooha_, Singhalese (_Kellaart_).

HABITAT.--Throughout India, though scarce in the central parts; it
is abundant in Assam and Burmah, and is also found in Ceylon, but
is stated not to occur in Malabar.

[Illustration: _Axis porcinus_.]

DESCRIPTION.--"Light chestnut or olive-brown, with an eye-spot; the
margin of the lips, the tail beneath, limbs within, and abdomen,
white--in summer many assume a paler and more yellow tint, and get
a few white spots, and the old buck assumes a dark slaty colour; the
horns resemble those of a young spotted deer, with both the basal
and upper tines very small, the former pointing directly upwards at
a very acute angle, an