150 ROE -HUNTING. 



large party, unskilful manoeuvring, and long random shots. 

 I have had good proof that roes are not so much afraid 

 of fox-hounds as people suppose. A gentleman of my 

 acquaintance had a newly -planted wood much injured by 

 them : he desired the gamekeeper to hunt them out. So 

 little, however, did this frighten them, that they have 

 been known to return within an hour after the hounds 

 were taken off ; nor would they leave the place until one 

 or two had been shot. 



Nor is this the only instance which has come within 

 my own notice. On the shooting-ground which I took 

 for a season at Kinnaird, in Perthshire, was a pine wood, 

 with an oak copse at the side ; here I frequently saw a 

 fine buck and two does feeding. They were very tame, 

 and I tried in vain to beat them out with the shepherd's 

 dogs. I had not then much knowledge of roe-hunting ; 

 but I procured an old hound, and pursued them every 

 day for a week without getting a shot. They were still 

 to be found in their old haunts every morning, although 

 ever so hard hunted the day before. They would take a 

 stretch upon the open moor for an hour, and then return, 

 always keeping together ; and it was only by marking a 

 much-used pass that I at length succeeded in getting a 

 very fair right and left, killing the buck with one barrel, 

 and one of the does with the other. A stray shot struck 

 the other doe, which happened to be in line, and broke 

 her leg, although I was not aware of it. Two days after, 

 a farmer sent me word that a wounded roe had been seen 

 in the wood. I again put the hound into the cover, and 



