156 SPORT IN EUROPE 



parts roedeer are shot, as in England, like hares and rabbits, in shot- 

 o'un drives, often, even in winter, after the horns have been shed and 

 both sexes look alike. But to the honour of Germans be it said 

 that unsportsmanlike proceedings are the exception, and that all true 

 hunters agree with what Mr. J. G. Millais says about it in his 

 excellent book on British Deer and their Horns. In many places it 

 is the only rifle-shooting to be had, and is therefore all the more 

 valuable. 



Nobody that has not practised it himself can conceive what good 

 sport can be got out of the chase of this little deer. He who thinks 

 that stalking the roebuck is easy sport little knows the astuteness 

 of an old buck. His powers of scent and hearing are equal to those 

 of the red deer, his sight is nearly so, and in knowledge of human 

 behaviour and life-saving tricks he beats any animal. His fatal fault 

 is his curiosity, and thus he gives occasionally the long-coveted 

 opportunity for putting a bullet through him. 



In Germany roe are not quite as plentiful as in Hungary, where the 

 late Crown Prince Rudolf stalked and shot eighteen in one morning 

 at Keszthely, but in most good grounds six or eight can be got in 

 a mornino". The largest numbers are to be found in the Black Forest 

 (on the estate of Prince Furstenberg), in the oak forests near Leipsic, 

 in the northern part of Silesia (at Primkenau, the estate of the Duke 

 Ernest Guenther of Holstein), and in Mecklenburg. The heaviest 

 are oot in East Prussia. 



The averaee weioht is 4s lbs. ; oreatest weight of an East Prussian 

 buck, shot by the Emperor on Count Dohna Schlobitten's estate of 

 Proekelwitz (where the average yearly bag is seventy head), 71 lbs. 



