134 ANIMAL LIFE OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



it is said that some of these made their way across country 

 for twenty-five miles and settled in the New Forest. There are 

 very few of them, and this fact combined with their cleverly 

 elusive movements in the dense coverts they affect, makes the 

 chance of seeing them very remote, more particularly as the 

 Roe is nocturnal in its habits. 



The Roe stands only about two and a quarter feet at 

 the shoulders. Its colour in summer is bright red-brown, the 

 coat short and smooth ; but in winter it becomes long and 

 brittle, and the colour changes to a warm grey. The tail is so 

 short as to be scarcely visible among the surrounding hairs which, 

 as well as the under parts and the inner sides of the thighs, are 

 white. The ears are relatively larger than those of the other 

 species, covered with long hairs and whitish inside. It has a 

 white chin and a white spot on each side of the dark muzzle. 

 A mature buck weighs from forty to fifty pounds. There are 

 no signs of horns in first year fawns ; in the second year they 

 make their appearance as simple unbranched prongs. The 

 third year the horns are forked, a short tine pointing forwards ; 

 those of the fourth year have an additional tine directed back- 

 wards, and this marks the full complication of their structure. 

 In later years they have the same general design, but, of course, 

 are each year larger ; at their maximum they are only eight or 

 nine inches long, and are nearly upright. Small and primitive 

 though these horns are, they are very effective weapons, and 

 there have been occasions when they were used with fatal effect 

 against human victims. They have no canine teeth. 



Roe Deer never congregate in large herds, but form small 

 family groups. In spring the hind retires deep into the covert, 

 where her two (sometimes three) spotted fawns are born ; and 

 when they are about a fortnight old, she brings them out into 

 the more open parts. Charles St. John, who, in the first half of 

 the nineteenth century, had full opportunity for a close study 

 of the natural history of the Highlands, has much to say of Roe 



