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.
