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.