ROE-DEER 



217 



ROE-DEER. In the wilds of northern Scotland the roebucks 

 do considerable damage by nibbling and browsing on buds and 

 young shoots of forest-trees, practically precluding seedlings from 

 making their progressive growth and maintaining their leaders 

 intact, so that would-be timber in due course is mere scrub, and 

 small saplings being used as fraying-stocks, there is much hamper- 

 ing of the forester in his efforts to cultivate timber trees. 



FIG. 124. PAPER-PROTECTED CONIFER. 



Roe-deer must be excluded from farms, nurseries and gardens 

 by fencing not less than 4! ft. in height, for once they have 

 fed freely on cultivated crops, either through a gap in the 

 fence or by leaping over it, they are very apt to return and feed 

 on the better fare > outside the forest. Scarecrows are of little 

 use, for roe-deer, like most wild creatures, soon learn to distinguish 



