298 COMMON ROE. 



animals live comfortably, they must have a park 

 of an hundred acres. They may be tamed, but 

 can never be rendered obedient or familiar. They 

 always retain a portion of their natural wildness, 

 are easily terrified, and then run with such force 

 against the walls that they often break their limbs. 

 However tame they may be, they cannot be trust- 

 ed ; for the males particularly are subject to dan- 

 gerous caprices ; they take an aversion to certain 

 persons, and make furious attacks with their horns, 

 the blows of which are sufficient to throw a man 

 to the ground, after which they continue to tread 

 on him with their feet. The Roebuck bellows not 

 so frequently, nor with so loud or strong a voice, 

 as the stag. The young ones utter a short or 

 plaintive cry, mi^ mi, by which they indicate their 

 want of food. This sound is easily imitated, and 

 the mother, deceived by the call, will come up to 

 the very muzzle of the hunter's gun. 



In winter the Roes frequent the thickest 

 coppices, and feed upon brambles, broom, heath, 

 the catkins of the hazel, willow, &c. In spring 

 they repair to the more open brushwood, and 

 eat the buds and young leaves of almost every 

 tree. This Avarm food ferments in their stomachs, 

 and intoxicates them to such a degree, that they 

 are easily surprised. They know not where they 

 are going, and not unfrequently come out of the 

 wood, and sometimes approach flocks of cattle, 

 and the habitations of men. In summer they 

 dwell in the more elevated coppices, from which 

 they seldom depart, excepting in very dry weather, 



