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. swinhoei_, and the Philippine _C. u. philippinus_ and _C. u. nigricans_, of which the latter is not larger than a roe-buck, while the sambar itself is as large as a red-deer. Whether these local phases of a single variable type are best denominated races or species, must be largely a matter of individual opinion. The rusa, or Javan sambar, _C. (R.) hippelaphus_, is a lighter-coloured and smaller deer than the Indian sambar, with longer, slenderer and less rugged antlers. Typically from Java, this deer is also represented in the Moluccas and Timor, and has thus the most easterly range of the whole tribe. A black coat with white spots distinguishes the Philippine spotted deer, _C. alfredi_, which is about the size of a roe-buck; while other members of this group are the Calamianes deer of the Philippines (_C. culionensis_), the Bavian deer (_C. kuhli_) from a small island near Java, and the well-known Indian hog-deer or para (_C. porcinus_), all these three last being small, more or less uniformly coloured, and closely allied species. On the other hand, the larger and handsomer chital, or spotted deer (_C. axis_), stands apart by its white-spotted fawn-red coat and differently formed antlers.
Nearly allied to the preceding is the barasingha or rucervine group (subgenus _Rucervus_), in which the antlers are of a different and generally more complex character. The typical species is the Indian barasingha or swamp-deer, _Cervus (Rucervus) duvauceli_, a uniformly red animal, widely distributed in the forest districts of India. In Siam it is replaced by _C. (R.) schomburgki_, in which the antlers are of a still more complex type. Finally, we have the thamin, or Eld's deer, _C. (R.) eldi_, ranging from Burma to Siam, and characterized by the continuous curve formed by the beam and the brow-tine of the antlers.