86 Mr. J. E. Harting on Forest Animals. 



at Milton, from whence their descendants dispersed in a 

 very short space of time, especially in a south-westerly 

 direction. 



A resident in that neighbourhood, Mr. J. C. Mansell 

 Pleydell, estimated last year (1879),''' that there were no 

 less than 120 head in the Milton, Whatcombe, and 

 Houghton Woods, which fringe the southern side of the 

 Yale of Blackmore, from Stoke Wake to Melcombe Park 

 and the Grange Wood westward, the number being merely 

 a question of preservation or non-preservation. 



The roe-deer was once much more common in Scotland 

 than it is at present, but it is still very plentiful, and has 

 much increased of late years. It is believed that the 

 increase of plantations in the south of Scotland has been 

 the means of spreading it much farther in that direction 

 than it used formerly to be found. 



In Ireland the roe-deer is unknown, notwithstanding 

 the statement of Bede, so quaintly contradicted by John of 

 Trevisa ; nor have remains of this animal been discovered 

 in the sister isle. 



Those who would learn something of the habits of the 

 roe-deer, from one who has had frequent opportunities of 

 observing it, should read the excellent account given in 

 the second volume of Stuart's *' Lays of the Deer Forest ;" 

 nor should they omit to peruse the equally trustworthy 

 account furnished by the author of **The Moor and the 

 Loch." 



One of the most curious points in the history of the roe- 

 deer, but one on which I need not now enter in detail, is 

 the phenomenon now known as " suspended gestation," 

 and which long puzzled sportsmen and naturalists, until 

 the scientific researches of Professor Bischoff, of Giessen, 

 the well-known embryologist, placed the matter in a clear 

 light. The result of his investigations will be found in the 

 second edition of Bell's "British Quadrupeds." Unlike 

 the red-deer, the roe generally has two fawns, and very 

 rarely three have been observed with a doe.f These, like 



* See The Zoulogut, 1879, pp. 120, 170, 209, 262, 301. 

 t The Field, Sept. 2nd, 1871. 



