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which has been found to extend for more than forty miles 
along the coasts of Norfolk, and which during the prevalence 
of very low tides is traceable here and there by the numerous 
stumps of trees which may be seen still standing erect with 
their roots attached to them, and penetrating in all directions 
into the loam or ancient vegetable soil on which they grew.* 
‘ The horns of the Roebuck/ says the Rev. Richard Lub- 
book,*)* ‘ are much less frequent in occurrence here than those of 
the Stag ; but a good pair, with part of the skull annexed, were 
dug up by the turf-cutters on Buckenham Fen, near Attleburgh, 
and they have occasionally occurred in other situations/ 
If we dip into the records of bygone days we shall find 
that the Roebuck is very anciently mentioned as a beast of 
chase. The British name for it was Iwrch. In the Colloquy 
of Alfric it is included amongst the different kinds of game 
which the Saxon hunter usually pursued. ‘ I take harts, boars, 
and deer/ he says, ‘ and roes, and sometimes hares/ When 
asked how he practises his craft he replies, ‘ I braid nets and 
set them in a convenient place, and set on my hounds that they 
may pursue the beasts of chase, until they come unexpectedly 
to the nets, and so become entangled in them, and I slay them 
in the nets/ 
The practice of taking Roe- deer in nets is referred to in 
Domesday as being in vogue in Lancashire at the date of the 
Conquest. Thus, ‘ Roger ins de Lad ten Cortune. Ibi est haia 
capreolis capiend / 
The haia, haye, or haie, as it is variously spelled, properly 
signified the hedge or fence enclosing a forest or park, but by 
an easy metonymy the word was transferred from the enclosing 
fence to the area enclosed by it.J In the case of the Roe- deer 
it doubtless implied an enclosed area into which the animals 
were driven, and having outlets here and there across which 
nets were hung for their entanglement and capture. The 
existence of such ‘ haies ’ may be found noticed in ancient 
grants of land during many subsequent centuries. § 
Under the Welsh laws of Howel Dha, a.d. 940 (cap. xix.), 
the skin of a Roebuck was worth a penny, of a Hart eight- 
pence, of a Hind sevenpence.|| The Welsh name for the Roe 
was Iyrchod. 
At the time of the Conquest, Roe-deer were to be found 
* Lyell, Antiquity of Man. 
f Lubbock, Fauna of Norfolk. 
X For a full and interesting explanation of this word see Whitaker, His- 
tory of Whalley, vol. i. p. 283. 
§ See Blount’s Ancient Tenures. 
|| An English translation of these laws will be found appended to The 
Myvyrian Archceoloyy of Wales, collected out of Ancient Manuscripts, ed. 
Owen Jones and others. (Denbigh, 1870.) Vide p. 1056. 
