und like a hare, until he is at
last run into and killed. They exist in extraordinary numbers
throughout every portion of Ceylon, but are never seen in herds.

Next to the red deer is the still more tiny species, the "mouse deer."
This animal seldom exceeds twelve inches in height, and has the same
characteristic as the red deer in the heavy proportion of body to its
small length of limb. The skin is a mottled ash-gray, covered with
dark spots. The upper jaw is furnished with sharp tusks similar to the
red deer, but the head is free from horns.

The skull is perfectly unlike the head of a deer, and is closely allied
to the rat, which it would exactly resemble, were it not for the
difference in the teeth. The mouse deer lives principally upon berries
and fruits; but I have seldom found much herbage upon examination of
the paunch. Some people consider the flesh very good, but my ideas
perhaps give it a "ratty" flavor that makes it unpalatable.

These little deer make for some well-known retreat the moment that they
are disturbed by dogs, and they are usually found after a short run
safely ensconced in a hollow tree.

It is a very singular thing that none of the deer tribe in Ceylon have
more than six points on their horns, viz., three upon each. These are,
the brow-antler point, and the two points which form the extremity of
each horn. I have seen them occasionally with more, but these were
deformities in the antlers.

A stranger is always disappointed in a Ceylon elk's antlers; and very
naturally, for they are quite out of proportion to the great size of
the animal. A very large Scotch red deer in not more than two-thirds
the size of a moderately fine elk, and yet he carries a head of horns
that are infinitely larger.

In fact, so rare are fine antlers in Ceylon that I could not pick out
more than a dozen of really handsome elk horns out of the great numbers
that I have killed.

A handsome pair of antlers is a grand addition to the beauty of a fine
buck, and gives a majesty to his bearing which is greatly missed when a
fine animal breaks cover with only a puny pair of horns. There is as
great a difference in his appearance as there would be in a
life-guardsman in full uniform or in his shirt.

The antlers of the axis, or spotted deer, are generally longer than
those of the elk; they are also more slender and graceful. Altogether,
the spotted deer is about the handsomest of that beautiful tribe. A
fine