EFFECTS UPON ANIMAL LIFE 331 



we do not expect to find traces of its presence in that extra- 

 ordinary abundance which marks the Red Deer, for the Roe 

 is a shy and superbly active creature, less likely to be caught, 

 and its flesh is less palatable than that of its great relative. 

 Nevertheless there are few kitchen-middens on the mainland 

 that do not contain a bone or antler of the Roe Deer. In 

 such deposits it has been found from the northern to the 

 southern limits of Scotland, and the extreme cases are of 

 special significance, since the " one or two bones " discovered 

 at Hillsvvick reveal its presence even in the Shetland Isles, 

 and its relics in the Cave of Borness in Kirkcudbrightshire, 

 consisting of twenty-six bones, suggest that on the southern 

 borders, it was as common as the Red Deer, represented by 

 a like number of remains. 



It occurs in the lake dwellings of Ayrshire, as at Lochlee, 

 Kilmaurs, and Lochspouts; in the hill forts of Argyllshire, 

 as at Loch Awe and on the Island of Luing, and of Inver- 

 ness-shire, as at CraigPhaidrich ; in the Roman settlement at 

 Newstead; in the "Pictish Towers" or brochs of Thrumster 

 and Kettleburn in Caithness, and of Cinn Trolla in Suther- 

 landshire; and in an underground "Pict's House" or " Eird 

 House " at Edrom in Berwickshire. It is evident, therefore, 

 that in prehistoric and early historic times down to about 

 the ninth century the Roe Deer was common throughout 

 Scotland. 



When did it begin to forsake the southern country? 

 There are many references to its protection in old Scots law, 

 but they help us little as, to its detailed distribution. It had 

 its place amongst the list of slain in the great royal hunt in 

 Athole in 1529 during the reign of James V; but this is be- 

 side the point for it has never deserted the fastnesses of the 

 Perthshire Highlands. In the Lowlands it was still common 

 in the thirteenth century, for in the reign of Alexander II 

 (1214-1249), the Lords of Avenel, in granting their lands in 

 Eskdale to the Abbey of Melrose, reserved the right to hunt, 

 amongst other creatures, the Hart, the Hind and the Roe. 

 But by the middle of the sixteenth century the disappearance 

 of woodland, for use as timber and to make way for the 

 pasturing of great flocks of sheep for which the Lowlands 

 were already famous, led to the reduction of the Deer and 

 to the narrowing of the bounds wherein they were wont to 



