The Deer Tribe 



295 



Photo by the Duchess of Bedford] [Woburn Abbey. 



GROUP OP VIRGINIAN DEER (TWO BUCKS, FOUR DOES). 



These are the common deer of the Eastern United States. 



to be tame, has been known 

 to kill a lad. In Scotland 

 and on the Continent roe 

 deer are usually killed by 

 driving, and large bags 

 are often made. Even 

 within recent times, as 

 many as sixty-five roebucks 

 and thirteen hinds have 

 been shot at Beaufort, Lord 

 Lovat's place in Inverness- 

 shire, during a day's 

 driving. Shot-guns are 

 employed for this kind of 

 sport. Stalking the roe is 

 not so much pursued in 

 Scotland as it might be. 

 It is a first-rate and most 

 interesting form of sport, 

 and in certain districts the 

 rifle might very well be 

 substituted for the shot- 

 gun. " Roe-stalking," says 

 Mr. Millais, "possesses 



many charms of its own. In the first place, you can enjoy it at a season when there is no 

 other shooting going on; secondly, it takes you out in the early morning, when all nature is 

 full of life and beauty, and before the heat of the day commences ; and, thirdly, where the 

 chase of the animal is systematically conducted, as with red deer, the nature of the sport is 

 everything that can be desired. I would therefore put forward a plea that tenants and owners 

 of part-wood, part-forest lands in Argyll, Inverness, Ross, and Aberdeen should turn their 

 attention to stalking the roe in preference to killing them during the usual winter wood-shoots." 

 Roe deer are exceedingly abundant in the great forest regions of Germany and Austria- 

 Hungary. In Austria alone, not including Hungary, during the year 1892, no less than 68,110 

 of these beautiful little deer were shot on various estates. 



The SIBERIAN ROE, found from the mountains of the Altai and Turkestan to Siberia, is a 

 somewhat larger species than its European cousin, measuring from 28 to 34 inches at the 

 shoulder. The antlers are also larger, extending to as much as 16 and even 18 inches in 

 measurement. As beseems its habitat, the coat of this species is also thicker and rougher 

 than is the case with the European roe. Mr. Lydekker gives some interesting particulars 

 regarding this animal : " When the snows of November fall, the roe themselves commence to 

 collect in herds, which may number from 300 to 500 head, and soon after migrate southwards 

 into Manchuria, whence they return about the end of March or beginning of April. On the 

 Ussuri, which they must cross, they are at this season slaughtered in thousands by the hunters, 

 without regard to age or sex." 



One other species, the MANCHURIAN ROE, found chiefly in mountainous habitats, whence 

 it never descends, should be noted. This is a smaller deer than the Siberian roe, and 

 approximates in size and length of horn to the European race. 



PERE DAVID'S DEER. 



This remarkable animal, which apparently bears little or no resemblance to any of the other 

 deer of the Old World, has been placed by some naturalists between the roe deer and the 

 American deer. Its habitat is North China, and, strangely enough, it seems to be unrecognised 



