ROE-BUCK. ANTELOPE. ]]1 



THE ROE-BUCK. 



This beautiful little animal, the smallest of the deer kind, 

 though formerly a native of Wales and of the northern 

 parts of England, at present exists in no part of Great 

 Britain, except the Highlands of Scotland. The species, 

 however, is diffused over the northern parts of Europe, 

 Tartary, and China ; and, according to some, is found in 

 North America, it is about three feet long and two high, 

 and the horns measure about eight or nine inches. The 

 figure of this animal is extremely elegant, and its fleetness 

 is equal to its beauty. Its hair is always smooth, clean, 

 and glossy ; and, as it delights in the purest air, it fre- 

 quents only dry situations. It bounds with grace and 

 agility ; and, with extraordinary cunning, finds means to 

 avoid the hunters. 



Instead of herding together, these animals form separate 

 families ; the sire, the dam, and the young, associating 

 with each other, and excluding all strangers from their 

 community. Every other species of deer is inconstant in 

 affection ; but the roe-buck never forsakes its mate, and 

 the progeny live together till they are old enough to com- 

 mence an independent society of their own. 



The female's period of gestation is only five months and 

 an half, in which respect the roe-buck seems to approxi- 

 mate to the goat kind. When she is ready to bring forth, 

 she retires to the thickest part of the wood, and generally 

 produces two at a time. 



THE ANTELOPE, OR GAZELL KIND. 



Linnaeus makes antelopes a species of the goat genus ; 

 but other zoologists consider them as a distinct race, and 

 enumerate a considerable number of species. The dis- 

 tinguishing characters are these : their horns are an- 

 nulated, or ringed round, at the same time that there are 

 longitudinal depressions running from the bases to the 

 apex; they have bunches of hair on their fore-legs, a 

 party-coloured streak running along the inferior parts of. 



