THE ROE-DEER. 89 
miles. In the summer those which remain, and which are generally the 
natives, keep the close coverts,.and are very fond of high ferns, junipers, 
and thorn jungies, or deep “ pots,” z.e., small abrupt dells, where the heath 
or blaeberries grow as high as their crouching bodies; but in wet and 
snowy weather they yo to the tall open woods where the herbage is short, 
and they are free from the drenching storm and rain which loads the 
bushes and low branches. On naked or short-clothed ground they always 
scrape for their bed, laying it bare to the fresh mould. This they will do 
several times during the night, so that the numbers of a family cannot be 
judged by their beds, for each will often make three or four in a night. 
Roe-deer do not wallow in pools like Red-deer, but in hot weather 
when fretted by flies, to brush them from their heads and flanks they 
stand by a bush and run round it so continually, that they soon beat 
a circle like the lunging ring of a horse. In July and August these 
circuits are often found in bushy woods, and as they occur in the weaning 
season when the kids are seen pursuing their dams for milk, by those 
ignorant of their habits, their circuitous runs have been thought an 
exercise to wean the young.” * 
Roe-deer are extremely cautious and delicate in their tread, 
always, except by accident, stepping over fallen sticks, or any 
object which might make a sound among the dry leaves; and 
when anxious or watchful, they move with extraordinary silence 
and caution, planting their feet directly and gently, without 
any tripping or trailing, and sometimes suspending an extended 
hind leg while listening, lest in setting it down they should 
rustle the leaves or otherwise attract notice. 
They will take the water readily and are good swimmers. The 
breadth of a good-sized lake will not deter them from passing to 
the opposite shore; and Boner states that he has known them 
cross the rapid Danube even where the current was strongest. 

* On this point Charles St. John writes:—‘‘ The Roe have a singular 
habit of chasing each other in regular circles round particular trees in the 
wood, cutting a deep circular path in the ground. I never could make out 
the object of this mancuvre, but the state of the ground proves that the 
animals must have run round and round the tree for hours together” 
(‘ Sport in Moray,’ p. 192). Boner explains it thus :—‘‘ The mother will play 
with her kid, bounding now towards and now away from it; and a favourite 
pastime seems to be to pursue her little one, or be pursued by it, round the 
stem ofa tree. They thus will play at ‘‘ Bopeep” together, and you may find 
trees in the forest, round the stems of which a circle is trodden in the ground, 
from the merry racings of the happy play-fellows” (‘Forest Creatures,’ p. 31). 
