158 



Quadrupeds. 



B.SLY 



THE EOEBUCK, (Germs capreolus,) 



Is one of the least of the Deer kind known in these 

 climates, being not above three feet in length, and two 

 in height, and seldom lives more than fifteen years. His 

 horns are about nine inches long, round, and divided into 

 three small branches, and his colour is of a brown shade 

 on the back, his face partly black and partly ash-colour, 

 the chest and belly yellow, and the rump white ; his tail 

 is short. The Eoebuck is more graceful, more active, 

 more cunning, and comparatively swifter than the stag ; 

 his flesh is much esteemed. He is very delicate in the 

 choice of his food, and requires a larger tract of country, 

 suited to the wildness of his nature, which can never 

 be thoroughly subdued. No arts can teach him to be 

 familiar with his keeper, nor in any degree attached to 

 him. These animals are easily terrified ; and in their 

 attempts to escape will run with such force against the 

 walls of their enclosure, as sometimes to disable them- 

 selves : they are also subject to capricious fits of fierce- 

 ness ; and, on these occasions, will strike furiously with 

 their horns and feet at the object of their dislike. The 

 only parts of Great Britain where they are now found 

 are the Highlands of Scotland. 



