The Zoologist — June, 1867. 



781 



Of these figs. I, 2, 3, 4, and 6, are all in the Zwingenberg collection 

 already mentioned, fig. I having been killed at Budingen ; fig. 2 at 

 Odenheim ; fig. 3 at Urloffen ; fig. 4 at Heiligenbergen ; and fig. 5 at 

 Swartzach (the last in 1814). Fig. 6 is a sketch of a very curious 

 head, kindly lent me by my friend Dr. Dewar; it belonged to a roe- 

 buck shot a few years ago at Black Mount, Argyleshire. These are 

 all from genuine specimens in authentic collections, but the inexpe- 

 rienced must beware of the ingenious imitations which are manu- 

 factured by unprincipled dealers. Deformities of this nature are 

 doubtless to be attributed to various causes, and they may, I think, be 

 divided iuto four classes : jirst, stunted growths, produced by bad 

 food, &c, and also found in old and decrepit bucks; secondly, those 

 caused by an accident or disease of the horn itself when in course of 

 formation ; thirdly, the effects of injuries to the generative organs of 

 the deer; and, fourthly, genuine deformities, perhaps occasioned by 

 some constitutional defect in the animal, or possibly by "breeding in 

 and in." A female roe-deer bearing horns was shot last year in the 

 Black Forest, according to a correspondent in the 'Field ' newspaper 

 (quoted Zool. S. S. 435) : in this case, the only instance of the kind I 

 ever heard of, the doe was probably diseased, like the hen pheasants 

 which assume the plumage of the male. 



The ordinary food of the roe consists of various kinds of grass and 

 herbage, including the tender shoots of trees and shrubs : among other 

 plants the Rubus saxatilis is said to be such a favourite as to have 

 earned in the Highlands the name of roe-buck-berry. 1 have already 



