Note 3 — Chapter VI · AFTER ARGALI AND WAPITI
Reading edition
In November, 1913, the author, accompanied by Captain T. Holcomb of the U.S. Marines, visited some mountains in the Kuci-hua-Ch’êng district, said to contain wapiti. This information turned out to be correct, and they had splendid sport, securing five wapiti bucks, and several gorals.
One of the wapiti, shot by the Captain, had a really magnificent pair of horns, with twelve points, six and six, and measuring:—length along curve, right 41 inches, left 39½ inches; length, tip to base, right 34 inches, left 31½ inches; widest spread 29½ inches; basal circumference, right 9½ inches, left 9 inches.
As is usually the case the deer were confined to a comparatively small area and frequented certain ravines and valleys almost exclusively. To exactly what species this deer belongs, it is impossible to say. It may turn out to be an intermediate form between the Manchurian wapiti (Cervus xanthopygus) and the Kansu wapiti (Cervus kansuensis).—A. de C. S.