THE DEER KIND. 



267 



more famous for its venison, than any other 

 country i.i the world. Whatever pains the 

 French have take.i to rival us in this particu- 

 lar, the flesh of their thllow-deer,of which they 

 keep but a few, has neither the fatness nor 

 the flavour of that fed upon English pasture. 

 However, there is scarce a country in Ku- 

 rope, except far to the northward, in which 

 this animal is a stranger. The Spanish fallow- 

 deer are as large as stags, but of a darker co- 

 lour, and a more slender neck : their tails are 

 longer than those of ours, they are black above, 

 and white below. The Virginian deer are 

 larger and stronger than ours, with great 

 necks, and their colour inclinable to gray. 

 Other kinds have the hoofs of their hind legs 

 marked outwardly with a white spot- and 

 their ears and tail much longer than the com- 

 mon. One of these has been seen full of white 

 spots, with a black list down the middle of 

 his back. In Guiana, a country of South Ame- 

 rica, according to Labat, there are deer with- 

 out horns, which are much less than those of 

 Europe, but resembling them in every other 

 particular. They are very lively, light of 

 course, and excessively fearful; their hair is 

 of a reddish fallow, their heads are small and 

 lean, their ears little, their necks long and arch- 

 ed, the tail short, and the sight piercing. 

 When pursued, they fly into places where no 

 other animal can follow them. The Negroes, 

 who pursue them, stand to watch for them in 

 narrow paths, which lead to the brook, or the 

 meadow where they feed ; there waiting in 

 the utmost silence, for the slightest sound will 

 drive them away, the Negro, when he per- 

 ceives the animal within reach, shoots, and 

 is happy if he can bring down his game. 

 Their flesh, though seldom fat, is considered 

 as a great delicacy, and the hunter is well re- 

 warded for his trouble. 



THE ROE-BUCK. 



THE roe-buck is the smallest of the deer 

 kind known in our climate, and is now almost 

 extinct among us, except in some parts of the 

 Highlands of Scotland. It is generally about 

 three feet long, and about two feet high. The 

 horns are from eight to nine inches long, up- 

 right, round, and divided into only three bran- 

 No. 23 & 24. 



dies. The body is covered with very long 

 hair, well adapted to the rigour of its moun- 

 tainous abode. The lower part of each hair 

 is ash colour ; near the ends is a narrow bar 

 of black, and the points are yellow. The hairs 

 on the face are black, tipped with ash colour. 

 The ears are long, their insides of a pale yel- 

 low, and covered with long hair. The spaces 

 bordering on the eyes and mouth, are black. 

 The chest, belly, and legs, and the inside of 

 the thighs, are of a yellowish white ; the rump 

 is of a pure white, and the tail very short. 

 The make of this little animal is very elegant; 

 and its swiftness equals its beauty. It differs 

 from the fallow-deer, in having round horns, 

 and not flatted like theirs. It differs from the 

 stag, in its smaller size, and the proportion- 

 able paucity of its antlers : and it differs from 

 all of the goat kind, as it annually sheds its 

 head, and obtains a new one, which none of 

 that kind are ever seen to do. 



As the stag frequents the thickest forests, 

 and the sides of the highest mountains, the 

 roe-buck, with humbler ambition, courts the 

 shady thicket, and the rising slope. Although 

 less in size, and far inferior in strength, to the 

 stag, it is yet more beautiful, more active, and 

 even more courageous. Its hair is always 

 smooth, clean, and glossy ; and it frequents 

 only the driest places, and of the purest air. 

 Though but a very little animal, as we have 

 already observed, yet when its young is at- 

 tacked, it faces even the stag himself, arid of- 

 ten comes off* victorious.* All its motions are 

 elegant and easy; it bounds without effort, 

 and continues the course with but little fa- 

 tigue. It is also possessed of more cunning 

 in avoiding the hunter, is more difficult to pur- 

 sue, and, although its scent is much stronger 

 than that of the stag, it is more frequently 

 found to make a good retreat. It is not with 

 the roe-buck as with the stag, who never of- 

 fers to use art until his strength is beginning 

 to decline; this more cunning animal, when 

 it finds that its first efforts to escape are with- 

 out success, returns upon its former track, 

 again goes forward, and again returns, until, 

 by its various windings, it has entirely con- 

 founded the scent, and joined the last ema- 

 nations to those of its former course. It then, 



BuiTon, vol. xii. p. 75 



3X 



