44 



EOE-HUNTING. 



MANY of the woods that fringe our most romantic lochs and 

 glens abound with the roe ; its chief food being the leaves in 

 summer, and the tender tops of the trees in winter. I do not 

 mean to say that it is not also fond of grass or clover, but the 

 other is its most natural choice. So destructive is it to young- 

 woods, that many gentlemen give it no quarter on this account. 

 Even trees of considerable growth are not safe from its at- 

 tacks ; the buck sometimes fixing his horns against the stem, 

 walking round and round until the ground is bared, and the 

 bark so injured that the tree dies. The favourite haunts of the 

 roe are those belts of young plantation, surmounted by large 

 pine-forests, common throughout the Highlands : the former 

 supply it with food, and the latter give it shelter. 



The pursuit of the roe, if followed in a proper way, affords 

 first-rate sport, and taxes to the full the strength, skill, and 

 energy of the hunter ; but this is seldom the case, and the 

 generality of roe-hunts are nothing but blunders from begin- 

 ning to end. The common way of proceeding is, to place 

 half-a-dozen gentlemen with their guns in the passes, and 

 then, with a host of beaters and dogs, to scour the plantations, 

 always commencing at the windward side, where the roes are 

 sure to be found. I confess I have no great liking for this 

 plan : the plantations are thoroughly disturbed, almost every 

 head of game being driven out of them ; and I never saw a 



