The Deer Tribe 



295 



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/>/(o(r) V i\ic J)ur!i,:ss of B.^lln'.l 



GROUP 01^ VIUlilNIAN DliliU (TWO liUOKS, KllUIi DOES). 

 These are the conijiion deer of the Eastern United States. 



to be tame, has been known 

 to kill a lad. In Scotland 

 and on tlie Continent roe 

 deer are usually killed by 

 driving, and lai-ge hags 

 are often made. E\en 

 within recent times, as 

 many as sixty-ti\e roebucks 

 and thirteen liinds have 

 been shot at Ki-aufort, Lord 

 Lovat's place in Inverness- 

 shire, during a day's 

 driving. Shot-guns are 

 emj)loyed for tliis kind of 

 sport. Stalking tlie roe is 

 not so much jmrsued in 

 Scotland as it might he. 

 It is a first-rate and most 

 interesting form of sport, 

 and in certain districts the 

 rifle might very \vell be 

 substituted fijr the shot- 

 gim. " I\oe-stalking," says 

 Mr. Millais, "possesses 

 many charms of its owm. In the first place, you can enjoy it at a season when there is no 

 other shooting going on ; secondly, it takes you out in the early morning, when all nature is 

 full of life and beauty, and before the heat of the day commences ; and, thirdly, wdiere the 

 chase of the animal is systematically conducted, as with red deer, the nature of the sport is 

 everything that can lie desired. I would therefore put forward a plea that tenants and owners 

 of part-wood, part-forest lands in Argyll, Imerness. Eoss, and Aliercleen should tnrn tli(-ir 

 attention to stalking the roe in preference to killing thenr during the usual winter wood-shoots." 

 Roe deer are exceedingly aliundant in the great forest regions of (iermany and Austria- 

 Hungary. In Austria alone, not includirjg Hungary, during the year 1802, no less than 68,110 

 of these beautiful little deer were shot on various estates. 



The Siberian Roe, found from the mountains of the Altai and Turkestan to Siberia, is a 

 somewhat larger species than its Eiuopean cousin, measuring from 28 to 34 inches at the 

 shoulder. The antlers are also larger, extending to as much as 16 and even 18 inches in 

 measurement. As beseems its habitat, the coat of this species is also tliicker and rougher 

 than is the case with the European roe. IMr. Lydekker gives some interesting particulars 

 regarding this animal: "When the snows of Isovemlier fall, the roe themselves commence to 

 collect in herds, which may number from 300 to 500 head, and soon after migrate southwards 

 into JManchuria, whence they return about the end of iMarcli or beginning of April. On the 

 Ussuri, which they nrust cross, they are at this season slaughtered in thousands by the hunters, 

 without reofard to aa:e or sex." 



One other species, the IManchurian Roe, found chiefly in mountainous haliitats, whence 

 it never descends, should be noted. This is a smaller deer than the Siberian roe, and 

 approximates in size and length of horn to the Eiuopean race. 



Pkre David's; Deer. 



This reinarkable animal, which apparently bears little or no resemblance to any of the other 

 deer of the Old World, has been placed by some naturalists between the roe deer and the 

 American deer. Its habitat is North China, and, strangely enough, it seems to be unrecognised 



