THE ROE-DEER 186 



would probably give good results. If some Chinese 

 roe could be imported, which should not be a very 

 difficult matter, and crossed with Scottish roe, I see 

 no reason why the cross should not be a success. 

 Not so large as the pijga7'gus^ and slightly bigger 

 than the European variety, a buck of the latter 

 species crossed with a Chinese doe should produce 

 an animal growing a very fine head. 



The shape of the horns of the bedfordi varies 

 considerably, as will be seen from the illustrations. 

 One pair is almost exactly like a miniature 

 pygargus, whilst others might easily be mistaken 

 for a good Scottish head, long, rough, and inclining 

 to the lyrate form. 1 never saw a head with 

 remarkable brows. They were nearly always short. 

 From the east side of the valley in which we 

 were camped branched a number of side valleys, 

 running up to the main ridge, ten thousand feet or 

 so above sea level. They were, in some cases, 

 narrow, one side, as usual, thickly wooded, the 

 opposite slope being covered with long grass ; in 

 others, the ground opened into big corries, sparsely 

 scattered with trees where the sun permitted, but, 

 whatever the configuration of the ground, exceed- 

 ingly steep and arduous to climb. The wooded 

 northern slopes were the natural home of the roe. 

 They feed early and late, and, so far as my 

 experience goes, near the tops of the ridges. This 

 might be expected in the case of such animals as 

 slieep and wapiti, but I was surprised to find the 

 roe, not among the bushes at the foot of the gullies, 

 where a trickling stream usually wandered, but, on 

 the contrary, near the summits. Whether this is 

 a natural habit or one induced by the incursions of 



