His Weight Is About Two Hundred And Fifty
Pounds (Alive).
It is a difficult thing to judge of a deer's weight with any
great accuracy; but I do not think I am far out in my estimation
of the average, as I once tried the experiment by weighing a dead
elk.
I had always considered that a mountain elk, which is
smaller than those of the low country, weighed about four hundred
pounds when cleaned, or five hundred and fifty pounds live
weight. I happened one day to kill an average-sized buck, though
with very small horns, close to the road; so, having cleaned him,
I sent a cart for his carcase on my return home. This elk I
weighed whole, minus his inside, and he was four hundred and
eleven pounds. Many hours had elapsed since his death, so that
the carcase must have lost much weight by drying; this, with the
loss of blood and offal, must have been at least one hundred and
fifty pounds, which would have made his live weight five hundred
and sixty-one pounds.
Of the five different species of deer in Ceylon, the spotted deer
is alone seen upon the plains. No climate can be too hot for his
exotic constitution, and he is never found at a higher elevation
than three thousand feet. In the low country, when the midday
sun has driven every other beast to the shelter of the densest
jungles, the sultan of the herd and his lovely mates are
sometimes contented with the shade of an isolated tree or the
simple border of the jungle, where they drowsily pass the day,
flipping their long ears in listless idleness until the hotter
hours have passed away.
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