ROE-SHOOTING. 39 



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 

 in a short time the poor creature came limping past, when 

 I shot it, to prevent the dog from putting it to a more 

 cruel death. I do not mention this as claiming any 

 merit, for the shots were open, near, and easy; greater 

 skill might have secured them some time before : but I 

 think a fair inference in proof of my assertion may be 

 drawn from this and other instances of the kind. 



The roe's sagacity in discovering real from apparent 

 danger is remarkable: the crouching shooter with his 



