Quodrupeds. 73 



Of deer we have but two, and these, the noblest of our /era: fiaturd, 

 are becoming very rare. 



The roe-buck : the followhig passage from one of the author's cor 

 respondents is interesting, and we do not recollect having seen the 

 observations elsewhere in print. 



" The roebuck is now rarely met with in England; though it still abounds in ma- 

 ny parts of Scotland. ' They are not frequently met with,' says Mr. Tytler, in a letter 

 with which he has lately favoured me, 'in larger numbers than two or three at a time; 

 but we find their couches among the heather, as if a larger party, perhaps six or seven, 

 had lain together. They scrape off the heather, and make a form like hares, which 

 they also resemble in keeping to the same tracks, and in stopping frequently, if a sud- 

 den, not very loud noise is heard. The roe seems to be extremely cautious ; and they 

 make use of their fine sense of smelling, as well as hearing, to warn them of an enemy. 

 They will scent a man a long way off, and hold their noses in the air, like a pointer 

 drawing on his game. A usual way of deceiving them is, to hold a lighted peat in the 

 hand, while approaching or lying in wait for them, as the animals are accustomed to 

 this smell, and less guarded in coming towards the spot. Their cry is like the baa of 

 a sheep, but more concentrated, so as to sound somewhat like a bark : at night espe- 

 cially, and in still moonlight, the cry may be heard to a great distance, and they are 

 constantly answering each other through nearly a whole night. 



"'The roe,' continues Mr. Tytler, 'is never known to turn on its enemy when 

 wounded ; but bad wounds are sometimes received from its horns while it lies tossing 

 its h(>ad in agony. It is very active ; and I have seen one bound, without much ap- 

 parent effort, across a road nearly twenty feet wide. Their usual pace, unless when 

 hard pressed, is a long, rather awkward canter ; but when closely hunted, or suddenly 

 startled, their bounds are the most rapid and beautiful that can be conceived. They 

 often come down on the corn-fields and peas in the neighbourhood of their haunts, 

 feeding entirely in the grey of the morning or evening. The usual method of killing 

 them is to drive the wood with hounds and beaters, the shooters being placed so as to 

 command the tracks or passes ; and caution is necessary to avoid the windward side, 

 as the roe will not approach if it smell the enemy. This sport is very tiresome ; and 

 a much more exciting mode is, to walk quietly through their haunts in the earliest 

 dawn, and endeavour to get within shot of them ; which, however, is by no means ea- 

 sily effected.' "—p. 409. 



Of the Cetacea or whales no less than fourteen are enumerated ; 

 the dolphin [Delphinus delphis), the bottle-nosed dolphin {D. Turslo), 

 the porpoise {Phocdsna communis), the grampus [P. orca), the caaing 

 whale (P. melas), the white whale [Beluga leucas), the bottle-head 

 [Hyper oodon bidens), Sowerby's whale [Diodon Sowerhyi), the nar- 

 whal [Monodon monoceros), the spermaceti whale [Physeter macro- 

 cephalus), the high-iinned cachalot [Physeter Tursio), the common 

 whale [Balcdiia 7?iysHcetus), the finner or Rorqual [Bala;noptera hoops), 

 and lastly, the northern manati [Rytina horealis), an animal of which 

 we scarcely possess any information ; its occurrence appears to have 

 been purely accidental, the dead body having been thrown on shore 



