THE ROEBUCK. 



THE common roebuck is one of the most elegant of 

 our native deer, and appears as a beautiful and appro- 

 priate object in the woods and copses of the Scotch 

 highlands. In Scotland, north of the Firth, it is every- 

 where abundant, where rocks and trees abound \ so much 

 so, indeed, that in some places these animals are doomed 

 to death from the damage they do to the young wood. 

 The roebuck leaves places of sterner character to be 

 frequented by the red deer, delighting in the lower 

 coverts, and in scenes less solitary and wild. It differs 

 from the fallow deer in having round horns ; from the 

 stag, in the smallness of its size, and the proportionable 

 smallness of its antlers ; and from every animal of the 

 goat kind, in annually shedding its horns. 



The roebuck grows faster than the stag, and his life is 

 shorter. It seldom continues more than twelve or fifteen 

 years ; and if in a state of domestic servitude, it is 

 diminished to seven or eight. As the constitution of 

 this animal is delicate, he requires a considerable range, 



