THE ROE-DEER 



(Capreolus caftrea) 



^HE roe-deer, or roebuck, as it is commonly called, is the smallest European 

 representative of the deer family, or Cervidce, and belongs to a small 

 group confined to Europe and northern Asia. So far as external 

 characters are concerned, roe-deer differ from more typical Cervidce, such as the 

 red deer and the fallow deer, by the simpler structure of the relatively small antlers 

 of the bucks, which rise nearly vertically from the head, and carry only three 

 points ; the basal, or brow, tines of the red deer being absent. As a distinctive 

 character, common to both sexes, may be mentioned the absence of a tail. 



The summer and winter dresses of the species, as in so many of the deer of 

 the temperate zone, are strikingly different ; the summer coat being bright foxy red, 

 while in winter the general colour of the fur is olive-brown. At the latter season, 

 at any rate, there is a conspicuous white patch on the rump, which serves as a 

 guide to the hinder members of a family or party when fleeing from danger. The 

 beautiful fawns are marked with a comparatively small number of longitudinal 

 rows of white or yellowish spots and streaks upon a rufous ground ; this indicating 

 that the roe is descended from deer of which the adults were similarly spotted in 

 summer. The black moustache-mark on the muzzle, and the white tip to the 

 chin, are other features of these elegant Tittle deer. 



The bucks attain their full development in the third year, when the antlers, 

 which commence as simple spikes, first acquire their third tines. Adult bucks 

 usually shed their antlers about Christmas, and the new ones, which increase in 

 size, although not in complexity till the sixth year, are in most cases fully 

 developed by the end of February. The fawns, of which there may be either one, 

 two, or three at a birth, usually make their appearance in the world in May, at any 

 rate in the British Isles. 



The favourite haunts of roe-deer are woods and forests on the plains, where 

 under-wood is abundant, from which they issue forth at evening to graze in 

 meadows and corn-lands. On the Continent these deer are, however, also found 

 in forests on the lower mountains, as well as on the spurs of the higher ranges. As 

 a rule, they associate for the greater part of the year in small family parties ; such 

 parties, according to continental writers, usually consisting of a buck with two or 

 three does and their fawns, although it has been stated that roe are strictly 

 monogamous. When put up in covert, they generally start off at a gallop with 

 enormous flying leaps, but their speed is not great. They are also excellent 

 swimmers, and can likewise climb rocks to a certain extent. Their food comprises 



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