20 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS. yowaP. yy. 
runs generally in a circle, and is seldom above a couple of hun- 
dred yards ahead of the beagles. Stopping every now and then 
to listen, and allowing them to come very near, before he goes 
off again. In this way, giving the sportsman a good chance of 
knowing where the deer is during most of the run. Many people 
use fox-hounds for roe-shooting, but generally these dogs run too 
fast, and press the roebuck so much that he will not stand it, but 
leaves the cover, and goes straightway out of reach of the sports- 
man, who is left to cool himself without any hope of ashot. Be- 
sides this, you entirely banish roe from the cover if you hunt 
them frequently with fast hounds, as no animal more delights in 
quiet and solitude, or will less put up with too much driving. 
In most woods beaters are better for shooting roe with than dogs, 
though the combined cunning and timidity of the animal fre- 
quently make it double back through the midst of the rank of 
beaters ; particularly if it has any suspicion of a concealed enemy 
in consequence of having scented or heard the shooters at their 
posts, for it prefers facing the shouts and noise of the beaters to 
passing within reach of a hidden danger, the extent and nature 
of which it has not ascertained. By taking advantage of the 
animal’s timidity and shyness in this respect, I have frequently 
got shots at roe in large woods by placing people in situations 
where the animal could smell them but not see them, thus driving 
it back to my place of concealment. Though they generally 
prefer the varmest and driest part of the woods to lie in, I have 
sometimes when looking for ducks started roé in the marshy 
grounds, where they lie close in the tufts of long heather and 
rushes. Being much tormented with ticks and wood-flies, they 
frequently in the hot weather betake themselves not only to 
these marshy places, but even to the fields of high corn, where 
they sit in a form like a hare, Being good swimmers, they cross 
rivers without hesitation in their way to and from their favourite 
feeding-places ; indeed I have often known roe pass across the 
river daily, living on one side, and going to feed every evening 
on the other. Even when wounded, I have seen a roebuck beat 
three powerful and active dogs in the water, keeping ahead of 
them, and requiring another shot before he was secured. Though 
very much attached to each other, and living mostly in pairs, I 
have known a doe take up her abode for several years in a soli- 
