CHAP. ii.l SHOOTING ROE. 



tary strip of wood. Every season she crossed a large extent of 

 hill to find a mate, and returned after two or three weeks' ab- 

 sence. When her young ones, which she produced every year, 

 were come to their full size, they always went away, leaving 

 their mother in solitary possession of her wood. 



The roe almost always keep to woodland, but I have known a 

 stray roebuck take to lying out on the hill at some distance from 

 the covers. I had frequently started this buck out of glens and 

 hollows several miles from the woods. One day, as I was stalk- 

 ing some hinds in a broken part of the hill, and had got within 

 two hundred yards of one of them, a fine fat barren hind, the 

 roebuck started out of a hollow between me and the red deer, 

 and galloping straight towards them, gave the alarm, and they 

 all made off. The buck, however, got confused by the noise 

 and galloping of the larger animals, and, turning back, passed me 

 within fifty yards. So to punish him for spoiling my sport I 

 took a deliberate aim as he went quickly but steadily on, ami 

 killed him dead. I happened to be alone that day, so I shoul- 

 dered my buck and walked home with him, a three hours' dis- 

 tance of rough ground, and I was tired enough of his weight 

 before I reached the house. In shooting roe, shot is at all times 

 far preferable to ball. The latter, though well aimed, frequently 

 passes clean through the animal, apparently without injuring 

 him, and the poor creature goes away to die in some hidden 

 corner ; whereas a charge of shot gives him such a shock that he 

 drops much more readily to it than to a rifle-ball, unless indeed 

 the bill happens to strike the heart or spine. Having killed roe 

 constantly with both rifle and gun, small shot and large, I am 

 inclined to think that the most effective charge is an Eley's car- 

 tridge with No. 2 shot in it. I have, when woodcock-shooting, 

 frequently killed roe with No. 6 shot, as when they are going 

 across and are shot well forward, they are as easy to kill as a 

 hare, though they will carry off a great deal of shot if hit too 

 far behind. No one should ever shoot roe without some well- 

 trained dog, to follow them when wounded ; as no animal is 

 more often lost when mortally wounded. 



Where numerous, roe are very mischievous to both corn and 

 turnips, eating and destroying great quantities, and as they feed 

 generally in the dark, lying still all day, their devastations are 



