184 THE ROE-DEER 



and 11,000 feet. They do not collect in large 

 bands like the Siberian roe, which may number 

 300 to 500 head in a herd, but remain in small 

 parties like the European variety. The horns are 

 shed in November, and are fully formed in May. 

 These are of some value in the eyes of a China- 

 man from a medicinal point of view, though to 

 nothing like the same extent as those of the maloo. 



We saw a good many horns, still attached in 

 some cases to the skull, in the medicine vendors' 

 shops. We bought one or two, and whilst at 

 Archuen several more from the natives. 



Not, of course, to be compared with the magni- 

 ficent antlers of the Asiatic roe (Capreolus 

 pygargus), the best horns of the Chinese species 

 surpass those of the European variety, with the 

 exception perhaps of the Swedish. Of these latter 

 *I have never seen a collection. The roe-deer in the 

 Thian Shan have grown horns of 18 inches, though 

 this is unusual ; a good Scottish horn is about 9 

 inches (12 inches is, I fancy, the record), whilst the 

 longest of the West Kansu herds which I measured 

 was 12| inches. I saw perhaps twenty, and I have 

 no doubt that they exceed this length. George 

 killed one with lOf in. horns, whilst mine was 

 10J inches, though I saw a very much larger head. 



Attempts have been made to cross the Asiatic 

 (pygargus) and European races, but 1 have never 

 heard of such an attempt being really successful. 

 Mr. J. Hamilton Leigh, an enthusiast where roe 

 are concerned, carried out some interesting experi- 

 ments, and came to the conclusion that the best 

 cross would be a Scots buck and a Siberian doe. 

 A half-bred buck crossed with pure Siberian does 



