42 THE ROE-DEER, OR THE ROEBUCK. 



cover, and comfortable only in so far that they 

 afford adequate shelter from the wind. At these 

 recognised resting-places dung is dropped more 

 liberally than elsewhere, the wild deer having no 

 need for sanitation. The roe-deer can, therefore, 

 be said to have at least one dry sunning-bed on 

 its range in addition to other harbours used when 

 the luxury of warm sunshine is not obtainable, and 

 chosen with a view to obtaining shelter, food, and 

 freedom from disturbance. 



To and from these harbours the runways extend, 

 and the following is typical. Coming down from 

 the north end of the wood the deer hold the high- 

 land, close to the boundary wall, but on the forest 

 side, and thus on to the beech-wood. Here there 

 is a harbour, much frequented by does with their 

 fawns, which are very limited in range. The trail 

 then drops to the burn-edge, and, winding in and 

 out of the rich undergrowth, turns straight back 

 to the northern boundary, where it crosses the 

 burn and turns southward down the opposite 

 bank, encompassing every willow -swamp and 

 traversing the thickest growths of forest. Here 

 it taps a new planting, there it encompasses a 

 small loch, and so on till the southern boundary 

 is again reached, when again it doubles back, 

 keeping near the opposite border, and terminating 

 finally at the sunning plateau. All the runways 

 are, of course, interconnected, but if left undis- 

 turbed the deer keep more or less to the same 

 paths. 



Thus it will be seen that, though a roe may 

 spend the major portion of its life within a mile 

 or so of some central point, its trodden paths are 

 many miles in extent ; and if it set out to complete 

 the circuit in the systematic manner just described 



