HIPPOPOTAMUSES, PIGS, AND DEER 301 



The roe has a voice and uses it, especially during the 

 breeding season. The male utters a loud bark, a sound some- 

 times more like a bleat or a harsh yelp, often resembling the cries 

 of a dog. The female is more silent, but during the breeding 

 season (writes Mr. Millais) " she gives an amorous call when 

 she wishes the male to come to her. If he is within hearing he 

 puts out his neck straight and comes at full speed. ... In 

 Germany many roebucks are shot by alluring them in this 

 manner, and calls exactly imitating the voice of the female are 

 made for the sportsman's use." 



Though a relatively small animal, the roebuck can be very 

 fierce, and the male in the rutting season is excessively dangerous, 

 as he can kill a man with his sharp horns. Several instances 

 are known of men and boys meeting their death in this manner. 

 The female will defend her fawn against dogs, and sometimes 

 even men, by striking out with her sharp-hoofed fore feet, and 

 even butting with her forehead. The male also strikes out 

 with his feet in his own defence. But in this respect roe deer 

 do not find their hoofs such effective weapons as is the case 

 with the red deer, the elk, or the reindeer. 



The food of this little deer is grass, leaves, fungi (which 

 they scent and dig up), and (among other fruits) rowan berries, 

 of which they are passionately fond. To reach these they will 

 often stand on their hind legs, supporting themselves for a time 

 by leaning the fore feet on some low branch or against the trunk 

 of the tree. 



Alces machlis. The Elk, or Moose 



It has already been stated that the gigantic extinct Broad- 

 horned Elk (yf. latifrons) was a British beast, and mainly con- 

 fined in its range to Britain. The elk which at present exists 

 in Scandinavia, Siberia, and parts of North America was probably 

 also an inhabitant of Great Britain not longer ago than some 

 ten thousand years. Antlers and bones, apparently belonging to 

 Alces machlis^ have been found in the Pleistocene and superficial 



