ARTIODACTYLES III 



(Why can it not be, like a carnivore, provided with sharp claws or cutting 

 teeth? Compare it in regard to food.) This lack of the means of 

 defence explains — 



(a) The timidity of the animal. 



(b) Why it leaves the protection of the forest only in the evening, in 

 order to seek the juicy crops of the field. On such occasions the herd 

 proceeds cautiously, constantly on the scent and the alert, the male 

 leading, and the females and young following after. The feed accom- 

 plished, the herd re-enters the darkness of the forest in the reverse order. 



G. The Roe as a Ruminant. 



Apart from the food-plants of cultivated fields, the buck consumes 

 the leaves of all sorts of trees, the buds of pines and firs, grasses, acorns, 

 beech-nuts, etc. 



As it feeds in the same manner as the ox, the organs of digestion 

 {teeth, stomach, intestine) are arranged on exactly the same plan (see 

 under "Ox")- Eumination, however, is to the roe (as, indeed, in the 

 ■case of all ruminants living in a wild state) of even greater import- 

 ance than to the latter animal. If so defenceless an animal were at 

 once to masticate to its requisite fineness the large quantity of vegetable 

 substances it requires (see ox), it would employ a very considerable time 

 in this business, and thus also be exposed unprotected for a long time to its 

 numerous foes. But being endowed with the ruminating capacity, it in a 

 very brief space obtains all the food it requires, and then performs the 

 .actual business of mastication in a safe retreat. 



D. The Roe in Relation to Man. 



The farmer, whose carefully planted crops it pilfers, naturally has 

 nothing good to say of this handsome animal ; nor is it a friend of the 

 forester, many of whose young trees it damages by rubbing off the bark 

 with its antlers, and biting off buds and young shoots. This damage 

 becomes still more serious during hard, snowy winters, when it is com- 

 pelled to appease the pangs of hunger by gnawing off the bark of trees. 

 Nor is the damage it inflicts made good by the value of its flesh, skin, 

 and antlers. 



Other Species of Deer. 



The .Red Deer (Cervus elaphus). — This handsome animal has de- 

 servedly earned the title of King of the Forest, by reason of its 

 .size and noble shape, its strength and speed, its magnificent antlers, 



