364 cervidj:. 



search of food. Usually they consort in small family 

 parties, and they have regular paths and passes through 

 the woods, returning to the same feeding-grounds day by 

 day at the same hour. The paces of the Roe are a gentle 

 trot and a high bounding gallop ; its speed is not great, 

 but it is a wonderful leaper — we have repeatedly seen 

 one clear a fence much higher than itself apparently with 

 the greatest ease. It is also an excellent swimmer, taking 

 to the water even when unpursued, and in Scotland it is 

 often known to cross lochs of more than half a mile in 

 breadth. Its voice is a harsh bleat, though some have 

 rather compared it to the yelp of a small dog. 



Its usual food consists of grass, herbage, and the 

 young shoots of bushes and trees. Ivy leaves are a 

 special favourite, and on more than one occasion we have 

 found its stomach filled with fungi of various species. 



The breeding of the Roe Deer presents us with the 

 most interesting points in its history, and was long a 

 puzzle to sportsmen and naturalists, especially in Ger- 

 many, where the species is abundant. Most writers have 

 stated that the Roe is strictly monogamous, that it pairs 

 in November or December, and that the Doe goes five 

 months with young. This account seems confirmed by 

 the fact that the foetus was never found before January, and 

 then only in a very undeveloped condition ; but on the 

 other hand it was well known that the sexes seek each 

 other's company in July and August, and the investigations 

 of the late Dr. Ziegler, published in 1843, proved con- 

 clusively that this was the true pairing season. The 

 mystery was not cleared up till 1854, when Prof. BischoflT 

 of Giessen, the well-known embryologist, published an 

 elaborate treatise, entitled " Entwicklungsgeschichte des 

 Rehes," in which he gave the results of ten years' careful 

 investigation. We must refer our readers to the original 



