256 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XVIII. 



Occasionally, too, when walking near the covers, an 

 old roe, accompanied by her two large-eyed fawns, 

 bounds out of some clump of juniper or brambles ; 

 and after standing for a short time to take a good 

 look at me, springs into the wood and is soon lost 

 to view ; or an old solitary buck, driven by the 

 midges from the damp shades of the woods, startles 

 me by his sudden appearance near the loch side, 

 springing over the furze and broom, on his way 

 back to the more extensive covers. 



The roe have a singular habit of chasing each 

 other in regular circles round particular trees in 

 the woods, cutting a deep circular path in the 

 ground. I never could make out the object of this 

 manoeuvre, but the state of the ground proves that 

 the animals must have run round and round the 

 tree for hours together. 



Tormented by midges and ticks, the bucks often 

 wander restlessly through the woods at this season, 

 uttering their bark-like cry; so like indeed is this 

 sound to the bark of a dog, that it often deceives 

 an unaccustomed ear. Of all torments produced 

 by insects I can conceive nothing much worse than 

 the attack carried on by the myriads of midges 

 which swarm towards evening in the woods, par- 

 ticularly where the soil is at all damp. For a 

 certain time the smoke of a cigar or pipe protects 



