WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 



roe is soon able to escape from most of its enemies, For a 

 day or two it is quite helpless, and frequently falls a prey 

 to the fox, who at that time of the year is more ravenous 

 than at any other, as it then has to find food to satisfy the 

 carnivorous appetites of its own cubs. A young roe, when 

 caught unhurt, is not difficult to rear, though their great 

 tenderness and delicacy of limb makes it not easy to handle 

 them without injuring them. They soon become perfectly 

 tame and attach themselves to their master. When in cap- 

 tivity they will eat almost anything that is offered to them, 

 and from this cause are frequently destroyed, picking up 

 and swallowing some indigestible substance about the 

 house. A tame buck, however, becomes a dangerous pet; 

 for after attaining to his full strength he is very apt to 

 make use of it in attacking people whose appearance he 

 does not like. They particularly single out women and 

 children as their victims, and inflict severe and dangerous 

 wounds with their sharp-pointed horns, and notwithstand- 

 ing their small size, their strength and activity make them 

 a very unpleasant adversary. One day, at a kind of public 

 garden near Brighton, I saw a beautiful but very small roe- 

 buck in an enclosure fastened with a chain, which seemed 

 strong enough and heavy enough to hold and weigh down 

 an elephant. Pitying the poor animal, an exile from his 

 native land, I asked what reason they could have for ill- 

 using him by putting such a weight of iron about his neck. 

 The keeper of the place, however, told me that small as the 

 roebuck was, the chain was quite necessary, as he had at- 

 tacked and killed a boy of twelve years old a few days be- 

 fore, stabbing the poor fellow in fifty places with his sharp- 



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