CHAP, n.] ROEBUCKS FAWNS. 19 



that time of the year is more ravenous than at any other, as it 

 then lias to find food to satisfy the carnivorous appetites of its own 

 cubs. A young roe, when caught unhurt, is not difficult to rear, 

 though their great tenderness and delicacy of limb makes it not 

 easy to handle them without injuring them. They soon become 

 perfectly tame and attach themselves to their master. When in 

 captivity they will eat almost anything that is offered to them, 

 and from this cause are frequently destroyed, picking up and 

 swallowing some indigestible substance about the house. A 

 tame buck, however, becomes a dangerous pet ; for after 

 attaining to his full strength he is very apt to make use of 

 it in attacking people whose appearance he does not like. They 

 particularly single out women and children as their victims, and 

 inflict severe and dangerous wounds with their sharp-pointed 

 horns, and notwithstanding their small size, their strength and 

 activity make them a very unpleasant adversary. One day, at 

 a kind of public garden near Brighton, I saw a beautiful but 

 very small roebuck in an enclosure fastened with a chain, which 

 seemed strong enough and heavy enough to hold and weigh 

 down an elephant. Pitying the poor animal, an exile from his 

 native land, I asked what reason they could have for ill-using 

 him by putting such a weight of iron about his neck. The 

 keeper of the place, however, told me that small as the roebuck 

 was, the chain was quite necessary, as he had attacked and killed 

 a boy of twelve years old a few days before, stabbing the poor 

 fellow in fifty places with his sharp-pointed horns. Of course I 

 had no more to urge in his behalf. In its native wilds no animal 

 is more timid, and eager to avoid all risk of danger. The roe 

 has peculiarly acute organs of sight, smelling and hearing, and 

 makes good use of all three in avoiding its enemies. 



In shooting roe, it depends so much on the cover, and other 

 local causes, whether dogs or beaters should be used, that no 

 rule can lie laid down as to which is best. Nothing is more ex- 

 citing than running roe with beagles, where the ground is suit- 

 able, and the covers so situated that the dogs and their game are 

 frequently in sight. The hounds for roe-shooting should be 

 small and slow. Dwarf harriers are the best, or good sized 

 rabbit-beagles, where the ground is not too rough. The roe 

 when hunted by small dogs of this kind does not make away, but 



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