Cervidae

“ Another highly-interesting fact concerning these same antlers is their gradual increase in complexity of tines and palm from the Miocene Cervus matheroni to the great Irish Elk of post-Tertiary times.
Beyond the antlers there seems to be no character of universal applicability which distinguishes the Cervidae from the nearly-related Antelopes. There are, however, a number of structural features which are nearly universally characteristic. Excepting Moschus (which Professor Garrod would not allow to be a "Deer") , no Cervine has a gall-bladder [190] to its liver. ”

“ These small races are always connected with particular areas, and are doubtless the result of conditions sufficiently unfavourable to prevent the species reaching the full luxuriance of growth and beauty of which it is capable, though not sufficiently rigorous to prevent its existence." In a later article on the Cervidæ, written four years afterwards, he seems, however, to qualify his opinion in the following words: "This species appears to attain a larger size in Java, Sumatra, and Borneo than it does on the mainland ”

“ Sub-Fam. 1. Cervinae.—The genus Cervus comprises rather over twenty existing species, which, except the Wapiti (C. canadensis) , are exclusively Old World in distribution. The principal features of variation in the genus, in accordance with which it has been divided up into sub-genera, are (1) palmated (Fallow Deer, Dama) or non-palmated antlers; (2) adults spotted with white at all ages and seasons (Axis) , or in summer only (Pseudaxis) , or not at all; (3) spotted or unspotted young; (4) existence or absence of rudimentary canines in the upper jaw. ”

“ Cervus (40 species) , the true deer, have been sub-divided into numerous sub-genera characteristic of separate districts. They range over the whole area of the family, except that they do not go beyond 57° N. in America and a little further in Europe and Asia. In South America they extend over Patagonia and even to Tierra del Fuego. They are found in the north of Africa, and over the whole of the Oriental region, and beyond it as far as the Moluccas and Timor, where however they have probably been introduced by man at an early period. ”

“ Cervus davidianus (Père David's Deer) .—Much interest attaches to this very rare animal, since probably it is now utterly exterminated in the wild state, those now in captivity—a scanty band indeed—being all that is left of the species. I recollect seeing several in the Jardin d'Acclimatation some years ago, but they are all gone now. An old male still survives in the Jardin des Plantes—a faded-looking specimen, and not at all attractive, save for his great rarity. ”

“ In the pleistocene deposits of Eastern and Central Europe, a very large-antlered race has [Pg 248] been discovered, and identified by Professor Nehring with Cervus canadensis—the Canadian Red Deer. Tcherski, the Siberian traveller, believed that Cervus canadensis was identical with, or a variety of, the Asiatic species of Deer, Cervus eustephanus, Cervus xanthopygus, and Cervus maral. ”

“ The females of Cervus paludosus of S. America, as well as the young of both sexes, do not possess the black stripes on the nose and the blackish-brown line on the breast, which are characteristic of the adult males. [28] Lastly, as I am informed by Mr. Blyth, the mature male of the beautifully coloured and spotted axis deer is considerably darker than the female; and this hue the castrated male never acquires. ”

“ Altogether some sixty species of Deer are known, of which the preponderance are Old-World forms. The Deer of the Old World are distributed among the genera [191] Cervus (all Europe and Asia) ; Cervulus, the Muntjacs (India, Burmah, China, etc.) ; Hydropotes (Eastern China) ; Capreolus (Europe and Central Asia) ; Elaphodus (Eastern China) ; there is one American Cervus, the Wapiti. The American genera are Cariacus and Pudua. ”

“ During our stay at Maldonado I collected several quadrupeds, eighty kinds of birds, and many reptiles, including nine species of snakes. Of the indigenous mammalia, the only one now left of any size, which is common, is the Cervus campestris. This deer is exceedingly abundant, often in small herds, throughout the countries bordering the Plata and in Northern Patagonia. If a person crawling close along the ground, slowly advances towards a herd, the deer frequently, out of curiosity, approach to reconnoitre him. ”

“ Extinct Deer.—Numerous extinct species of the genus Cervus are found fossil in many parts of Europe, and in all formations between the Post-pliocene and the Upper Miocene. The Elk and Reindeer are also found in caves and Post-pliocene deposits, the latter as far south as the South of France. Extinct genera only, occur in the Upper Miocene in various parts of Europe:—Micromeryx, Palæomeryx, and Dicrocerus have been described ”

“ For the fallow-deer, Cervus [Dama] dama, see Fallow-deer.
The rusine or sambar group of Cervus, of which the characteristics are given above, comprises a considerable number of long-tailed species with three-tined antlers from the Indo-Malay countries and some parts of China. The largest and handsomest is the sambar of India (Cervus [Rusa] unicolor) , characterized by its massive and rugged antlers. It is represented by a number of local races, mostly of smaller size, such as the Burmese and Malay C. u. equinus, the Formosan C. u. ”

“ Selecting a convenient spot whence we could see without being seen, and provided with a powerful binocular, we watched and waited with the most exemplary diligence and patience, and were rewarded, after some time, by discovering the culprit to be neither rat, stoat, nor weasel, nor other quadrupedal marauder, but a common crow, or rook rather—Corvus frugilegus, Linnæus calls him, though Corvus omnivorus would be nearer the mark—a large old male bird, as he afterwards proved to be, who had doubtless in his day sucked many an egg and sacked many a homestead of its callow fledglings. ”

“ A waterworn frontlet of Cervus in the Museum of the Geological Society, and obtained from the "Oyster-beds" of the Norfolk coast agrees in every measurement with the above, with the sole exception that the antler is slightly smaller (a point which varies with age) . Although, therefore, the brow-tyne has been broken away, which is so important a guide to the determination of the different Cervine species, the specimen from Norfolk may be assigned to the same species. It is so like the lithograph given by Prof. Gervais (op. cit. pl. xvi. fig. 4) that it does not require a figure. ”

“ I have had frequent opportunities of observing the young, from one to three days old, of the Cervus campestris--the common deer of the pampas, and the perfection of its instincts at that tender age seem very wonderful in a ruminant. When the doe with, fawn is approached by a horseman, even when accompanied with dogs, she stands perfectly motionless, gazing fixedly at the enemy, the fawn motionless at her side ”

“ The H. name of the widely-spread Cervus Wallichii, Cuvier. This H. name ('12-horn') is no doubt taken from the number of tines being approximately twelve. The name is also applied by sportsmen in Bengal to the Rucervus Duvaucellii, or Swamp-Deer. [See Blanford, Mamm. 538 seqq.] .
[1875.—"I know of no flesh equal to that of the ibex; and the navo, a species of gigantic antelope of Chinese Tibet, with the barra-singh, a red deer of Kashmir, are nearly equally good."—Wilson, Abode of Snow, 91.] ”

“ The American deer include such New World species as are generically distinct from Old World types. All these differ from the members of the genus Cervus in having no brow-tine to the antlers, which, in common with those of the roe-deer, belong to what is called the forked type. ”

“ Among the kinds of the latter which chiefly deserve attention are, Tetrao Sabini and Richardsoni, Sarcocamphos Californica, Corvus Stelleri, and some species of the genus Anas. There are several kinds of Cervus, Canis, Mus, and Myoxus, though the variety of quadrupeds is by no means so great in the northwest as in many parts of America.
The Elk (Cervus Alces) , which the hunters say agrees precisely with the Biche of the other side of this great continent, is found in all the woody country, and particularly abundant near the coast. ”

“ Champlain employs the names of the different species of the Cerf family as used in Europe; but as our species are different, this use of names creates some confusion. There were in Canada, the moose, the caribou, the wapiti, and the common red deer. Any enumeration by the early writers must include these, under whatever names they may be described. One will be found applying a name to a given species, while another will apply the same name to quite a different species. ”

“ With sanguinary, he has also gentle and domesticable dispositions, thus reflecting the characters of the ungulata, (the rasorial type of the class,) to which we perhaps see a further analogy in the use which he makes of the surface of the earth as a source of food. To the aquatic type his love of maritime adventure very readily assimilates him; and how far the suctorial is represented in his nature it is hardly necessary to say. As the corvidæ, too, are found in every part of the earth—almost the only one of the inferior animals which has been acknowledged as universal—so do we find man. ”

“ The young may be taken from the nest in the month of March, or even earlier if the winter be mild they are treated and fed like the former species. The carrion crow is even more easily tamed, for I have seen old ones, which have been taught to go and come, and others in their wild state, which have regularly fed in the yard going in the spring to breed in the woods, and returning at the beginning of the winter to pass that season in a domestic state. Insects, worms, mice, fruit, and grain form its principal food in its wild state. ”

“ Very little seems to be known as to the Natural History of this fly. Lipoptena cervi lives on the Red deer; the perfect Insect has apparently a long life, and both sexes may be found in a wingless state on the deer all through the winter. When first disclosed in the summer they are however provided with wings, but when they have found a suitable host they bite off, or cast, the wings. The female, it appears, does this more promptly than the male, so that it is difficult to get winged individuals of the former sex. [445]
{519} ”

“ 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. ”

“ The larvae of the chafers are heavy, soft-skinned grubs, with hard brown heads provided with powerful mandibles, three pairs of well-developed legs, and a swollen abdomen. As they grow, the larvae become strongly flexed towards the ventral surface, and lie curled up in their earthen cells, feeding on roots. The larval life lasts several years, and in hard frosts the grubs go deep down away from the surface. ”

“ Crows, however, will eat almost anything edible except grain; and the great European carrion-crow is almost a bird of prey, for like the raven it feeds chiefly on the flesh of dead animals. But it also preys upon such creatures as rabbits, hares, mice, frogs, and lizards, while it will also search for the nests of game birds and poultry, and carry off the eggs and the young. Sometimes, too, it will visit the seashore, and feast upon the crabs, limpets, and mussels which it finds among the rocks at low water. ”

“ How far superior is the method of the Cerceris, so rapid, so cheap, so expeditious! What lessons we should have to learn from such transcendental chemistry when an imperceptible drop of liquid poison renders in an instant the prey incorruptible! What am I saying?—incorruptible?—that is far from being all; the game is put into a condition which prevents desiccation, leaves their suppleness to the limbs, and maintains all the organs in pristine freshness, both the internal and external. In short, the Cerceris puts the insect into a state differing only from life by a corpse-like immobility. ”

“ But the thread, from which the Ceres (an Ethiopian race) make garments, is not produced from a tree, but is procured by the following method: A worm is found in their country which the Greeks call Seer, but the Ceres themselves, by a different name. This worm is twice as large as a beetle, and, in other respects, resembles spiders which weave under trees. It has, likewise, eight feet as well as the spider. The Ceres rear these insects in houses adapted for this purpose both to summer and winter. What these insects produce is a slender thread, which is rolled round their feet. ”

“ These insects are generally collected in their fly state: some creep and fly in the day-time when the sun shines warm; others, like the moth, fly in the evening and the night only.
Their habitations are exceedingly diversified: some are found in rotten and half decayed wood, and under the decayed bark of trees, as the lucanus cervus, flying stag, scarabæus cylindricus, and many of the cerambyces; others, among the dung of various animals, particularly of horses, cows, and sheep, as the dermestes, leather-eater ”

“ The Cervus Mexicanus wanders in numerous troops in the grassy Llanos of the Caraccas. He is only spotted while young; and varieties completely white have been discovered. On the slopes of the Andes he is never found at a greater elevation than 1600 to 1900 feet. At 3000 feet he is replaced by a much larger variety, slightly differing from the European stag.
The Rodents of the genera Capybara, Agouti, and Paca, are widely diffused over the plains of Tropical America. ”