THE ROE DEER 
good care to hide themselves in thickets, either lying there till danger is 
past, or breaking back through the line. No amount of shouting will divert 
a Roe that means to break back through a line of beaters. Some years ago a 
stalker at Blair was nearly killed by a charging roebuck, which, in forcing 
a passage, struck the unfortunate man in the groin with its horns. 
In 1891, whilst a Roe drive was in progress at Cawdor, a buck broke 
back, and in its endeavours to break through the line, charged straight 
at the village bell -man. This resourceful individual, who was carrying 
his coat as the day was warm, placed that article of apparel on the buck’s 
head in true bull -fighter fashion. This the frightened animal bore away 
on its horns, to the amusement of the beaters. It was found later about 
half a mile away in another part of the wood. In January, 1913, President 
Falliferes gave his last shooting party at Rambouillet, the guests of honour 
being the Bar and Parquet of Paris. General Boulanger, who is one of the 
military suite, was in a shelter waiting for the beaters to drive out the 
game, when a roebuck dashed forward. To avoid Colonel Guise, another 
member of the President’s household, who was standing in full sight, the 
frightened animal made a sudden spring to one side and collided with 
the concealed general, who was thrown to the ground, where he remained 
unconscious from the shock, which seems to have been principally received 
in the face and chest. He quickly recovered, however, and beyond being 
somewhat bruised and shaken, was none the worse. 
Roe shooting is not always safe. I have heard it said that there is more 
danger to life and limb when one Perthshire roebuck gets on the move than 
forty Surrey woodcocks at a syndicate shoot. I remember, about fifteen years 
ago when Colonel Richardson, of Ballathie, whose extremities were clothed 
in some brown material, was mistaken for a Roe, and one of the guns fired 
straight at his legs at a distance of fifteen yards. He was laid up for more 
than a year, and has not yet, I believe, quite recovered from the accident. 
Where Roe shooting is skilfully managed — and there are few such 
places — ^this habit of breaking back on the part of the deer is so well 
recognized that the guns are often placed behind the lines of beaters. 
J. G. MILLAIS. 
173 
