COMMON ROE. ^99 



when they go to drink at some fountain ; for 

 when the dews abound, or the leaves are moist- 

 ened with rain, they never drink. They are deli- 

 cate in the choice of their food ; they eat not with 

 avidity, like the stag, and they seldom approach 

 the cultivated fields, because they prefer the berry- 

 bearing alder and bramble to grain or pot herbs of 

 any kind. 



Though the flesh of these animals be excel- 

 lent food, yet it admits of much choice. The 

 quality of the venison depends chiefly on the 

 country they inhabit ; and even the best countries 

 produce good and bad kinds. The flesh of the 

 brown Roe is finer than that of the red. All the 

 males, after the age of two years, have hard 

 and ill-tasted flesh ; but that of the females, 

 though farther advanced in age, is more tender. 

 That of the fawns, when very young, is loose and 

 soft ; but at the age of eighteen months, it is in 

 the highest state of perfection. Those which live 

 in plains and vallies are not good ; those which 

 come from moist countries are still worse : those 

 brought up in parks are insipid ; and, lastly, there 

 are no good Roes but those of dry elevated coun- 

 tries, interspersed with hills, woods, cultivated and 

 fallow lands, where they enjoy plenty of air, food, 

 freedom, and solitude ; for those which have been 

 often disturbed are meagre, and the flesh of those 

 that have been often hunted is dry and insipid." 



The Roe, like other quadrupeds, is sometimes 

 found perfectly white, an instance of which is re- 

 corded in the Count de Buffon's Natural History. 



