CHAPTER TWO THE ROE DEER 



AS the spring advances, and the larch and oth- 

 er deciduous trees again put out their foHage, 

 I see the tracks of roe and the animals them- 

 selves in newand unaccustomed places. They 

 now betake themselves very much to the smaller dr^young- 

 er plantations, Avhere they can find plenty of one of their 

 most favourite articles of food — the shoots of the young 

 trees. Much as I like to see these animals(and certainlythe 

 roebuck is the most perfectly formed of all deer), I must 

 confess that they commit great havoc in plantations of hard 

 wood. As fast as the young oak trees put out new shoots 

 the roe nibble them off, keeping the trees from growing 

 above three or four feet in height by constantly biting off 

 the leading shoot. Besides this, they peel the young larch 

 with both their teeth and horns, stripping them of their bark 

 in the neatest manner imaginable. One can scarcely wonder 

 at the anathemas uttered against them by proprietors of 

 young plantations. Always graceful, a roebuck is peculiarly 

 so when stripping some young tree of its leaves, nibbling 

 them off one by one in the most delicate and dainty man- 

 ner. I have watched a roe strip the leaves of a long bramble 

 shoot, beginning at one end and nibbling off every leaf 

 My rifle was aimed at his heart and my finger was on the 

 trigger, but I made some excuse or other to myself for not 

 killing him, and left him undisturbed — his beauty saved 

 him. The leaves and flowers of the wild rose-bush are 

 another favourite food of the roe. Just before they pro- 

 duce their calves the does wander about a great deal, and 

 seem to avoid the society of the buck, though they remain 

 together during the whole autumn and winter. The young 



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