293 



with which either condition can arise quite independently when 

 all of them are descended from Miocene forms in which the 

 bones of the side toes were complete, the distinction is not 

 a very strong one for natural classification. (See illustration 

 on p. 28.) 



However that may be, the roe deer is one of the few Old 

 World examples of the Telemetacarpalia (or deer that only retain 

 the bones of their side toes at the end of the limb). The 

 tail in the roe is so short that there is practically no outward 

 manifestation of it between the thick hair of the buttocks. 

 Although nearly related to archaic extinct deer, and to the very 

 primitive Hydropotes, or water deer, of China, all of which 

 possess canine teeth in the upper jaw, the roe has lost this 

 feature. Occasionally minute traces of upper canine teeth are found 

 in the males. The ears are fairly long, narrow, and rather pointed, 

 not round, as in Hydropotes. The legs are long, flat, and slender, 

 and the hoofs are small. The whole foot, in fact, is closely 

 compressed and " fine," not at all like the rather spreading, 

 pig-like foot of the Chinese water deer. When the roe walks 

 there is a curious interlocking of the hind limbs, which is often 

 more marked than in other deer. Any one who observes the 

 movements of a sheep or cow will notice that as the animal 

 moves its hind limbs in walking the hock remains pretty much 

 in the same line as the buttocks, whereas in the deer the hock 

 twists inwards so markedly at every step as almost to touch the 

 inner flank of the other leg. This movement is specially marked 

 in the roe deer. 



The existing roes are not large animals. The biggest males 

 of the European form which is found in England seldom exceed 

 26 in. in height at the withers. The head of the roe deer is 

 proportionately small. The profile is straight, or slightly con- 

 cave. The eyes are large, but they are not placed so wide apart 

 as in the red deer (for example). The muzzle is neat and 

 tapering, but there is a considerable expanse of wet muffle about 

 the nose. The under-fur is woolly, and the hair on the upper 

 surface of the coat is coarse, sometimes flattened, stiff, and not 



