THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
and Austria and its dependencies, where it is preserved. That roe can 
exist without forests can be seen by any traveller on the train from Vienna 
to Galicia, where from the carriage windows numbers of roe can be seen 
moving about in the open fields where peasants are working. On numbers 
of estates in Slavonia, Hungary, Poland, Galicia and the neighbourhood of 
the Danube roe have very little dense cover in which to hide themselves, but 
are contented with the shelter of swamps, long grass, or rough depressions 
on the field edges. Here they often thrive as well as if not better than in 
the forests; for there are estates in Galicia, from which the finest heads 
come, where as many as sixty or seventy bucks may be shot with the 
rifle in the best months of calling and stalking — June, July and August. 
Roe exist in very large numbers on some of the islands of the Danube, for 
at the Vienna Exhibition of 1910 we were afforded the unique exhibition of 
113 roebuck heads shot in nine days by a sportsman who not only showed 
the results of his prowess, but himself, suitably attired in hunting costume 
and clasping his rifle. For many days he sat on a couch amidst his trophies, 
affording as he did so, if not interest, at any rate no little amusement, to 
the sightseers. Most of these heads were killed from a canoe propelled 
by a keeper, whilst the shooter sat in the bows and picked off the best bucks 
as they fed on the water edge at morn or eve. 
Many of the finest roe heads in that wonderful exhibition came from 
East Prussia, Poland, and Austria, and for the most part were far superior 
in length and perling to the best British examples; but by far the finest 
series of roe heads were those shown in the Swedish Court. European roe 
seem to reach their highest development in Southern Sweden, and exam- 
ples shown by the Crown Prince and other hunters were quite equal, if 
not superior, to old examples from East Prussia, where in days gone by 
roe were of remarkable size. Perhaps the best example of a European 
roe is one now in the Museum of Cassel. It was shot by the Landgraf 
Ludwig of Oberhessen, near Marburg, in Hessen, on January 12, 1588. 
It is over 15 inches in length (12 inches straight) and bears sixteen points. 
This buck was probably old and diseased or it would not have been carry- 
ing its horns at so late a date as January 12, the usual time of shedding 
being November. Many of the Swedish examples, already referred to, 
were far more massive than this and much heavier, although none of 
them bore more than eight points, whilst the perling of many was very 
rough and carried well up the horns — a great beauty in roe — and the length 
would average over 13 inches. European roe extend as far east as the 
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