Tee Zoologist— June, 1867. 783 



battue, the beaters being often assisted by the little " dachs-hund" 

 or badger-terrier; there the bucks are also decoyed in the pairing 

 season, as already mentioned, or they are shot with a rifle from some 

 hiding-place near their feeding-grounds ('Field,' 13th July, 1861). In 

 some parts of France the roe is still regularly hunted with packs of 

 hounds, and is said to show good sport : it leaves a very powerful 

 scent, aud in the South of Scotland is frequently a source of annoyance 

 to fox-hunters, leading the hounds from their proper game. 



The roe is generally distributed throughout central Europe ; it is 

 said to be found in Italy, is common in many parts of France, and 

 very abundant in all the forests of Germany. In Switzerland, however, 

 it is rapidly becoming scarce ; indeed F. von Tschudi says that in 

 another century it will probably be extinct in that country (' Thierleben 

 der Alpenwelt,' p. 153). In Scandinavia Mr. Loyd says that the roe 

 was found in many parts of Norway and Sweden, when Pontoppidan 

 wrote (about a hundred years ago), but that it is now almost entirely 

 confined to the south of the latter country (' Scandinavian Adventures,' 

 p. 237). 



In our own land the roe seems to have passed through various 



vicissitudes. There can be no doubt that it was abundant in the great 



forests which covered Britain in old days, when "pasties of the roe" 



were served in the baron's hall, and the stout old outlaws dressed its 



haunches " under the greenwood tree j" but when Pennant wrote he 



describes it as having disappeared, not only from England, but from 



the Lowlands of Scotland also, the first, he says, that were to be met 



with (going northwards) were in the woods on the south side of Loch 



Rannoch, in Perthshire. It is very different now ; whether Pennant 



was incorrect, or whether, as is more probable, the careful preservation 



of game and the great increase of plantations have turned the tide, I 



know not, but the species is now abundant in most well-wooded 



districts of southern Scotland and northern England. In many 



places they are still increasing rapidly, and are obliged to be kept 



down to prevent their becoming destructive to the plantations : a year 



or two ago forty were killed at one time, on the Earl of Home's estate 



at Douglas Castle, in Lanarkshire. So here we have at least one of 



our larger native quadrupeds which does not appear to be doomed to 



perish before the advance of civilization, and none could be less easily 



spared than the graceful and harmless roe-deer. 



Edward R. Alston. 

 205, Bath Street, Glasgow, April, 1867. 



