OCCASIONAL NOTES. 121 
hundred and twenty head in the Milton, Whatcombe and Houghton Woods, 
which fringe the southern side of the Vale of Blackmore from Stoke-Wake 
to Melcombe Park and the Grange Woods westward—the number being 
merely a question of preservation or non-preservation. The late Lord 
Dorchester, in 1800, turned out a few pairs in his woods at Milton, from 
whence their descendants dispersed in a marvellously short space of 
time, especially in a south-westerly direction—their shy, secluded habits, as 
might be expected, causing them to avoid the open country and move only 
from one neighbouring covert to another. I doubt if they have ever 
voluntarily crossed the broad expanse of down and arable which intervenes 
between these woodlands and those beyond the valley of the Piddle. About 
the year 1829, when Mr. Pleydell gave up his pack, after hunting Roe-deer 
exclusively for sixteen years, he permitted Mr. Drax to capture several deer 
and turn them out in the Charborough Woods. From this second centre 
they have increased in numbers and have wandered far and wide, from 
Moreton to Warmwell in the Valley of the Frome, and from Hyde to 
Houghton in that of the Piddle. Their extreme eastern extension at 
present is Lychett, and they have been met with as far west as Hook Park. 
Their rapid distribution over these two parallel tracts is attributable to the 
fecundity of the doe, which produces two and sometimes three fawns at a 
time ; and in proportion as the area of their native home becomes insufficient 
to maintain the increasing numbers, they are compelled to seek fresh 
feeding grounds. Professor Newton writes :—‘ There were plenty a few 
years ago in Bere Wood, and though I think that of late they have 
been a good deal killed down just there, there are still some in that 
wood and in the Bloxworth woods that adjoin it and form an almost 
continuous wooded tract to Morden Park in the east. There are also a 
good many Roes in the Moreton Woods, lying to the south of the Piddle. 
Although the large farmers generally do not find the Roes injurious, the 
small holders complain of them, and I suspect destroy a good many. To ~ 
this cause I attribute their comparative scarcity within the last three or 
four years about Bere Wood. The Roes are said to nibble the potatoe 
plants as they are sprouting above the ground, and so check their 
growth, if they do not wholly spoil the crop.” Generally, however, they 
content themselves with browsing upon the underwood and the scanty 
herbage beneath. At fawning time the doe separates herself from the rest 
of her family, which usually consists of four or five in number, and remains 
secluded until her young are able to take care of themselves, which is not 
long, for in a fortnight they are as active and agile as the parent. Soon 
after her return, her offspring of the previous year usually disperse and 
form the nucleus of a fresh family. The bucks shed their horns in October 
and November; they are speedily replaced, and in February the “velvet,” 
or rough skin which protects them in their soft state, disappears. In 
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