SiB EO;E SUCH. : 
the wolf, which has always been their most invete- 
rate enemy. By these continual depredations upon 
this beautiful creature, the roe buck is every day 
becoming' scarcer, and the whole race in many coun- 
tries is wholly worn out. They were once common 
in England ; the huntsmen, w ho characterized 
only such beasts as they knew, have given names 
to the different kinds and ages as to the stag ; 
thus they called it the first year a hind ; the se- 
cond a gyrle ; and the third a bemuse : but these 
names at present are utterly useless, since the 
animal no longer exists among us. Even in France, 
where it was once extremely common, it is now 
confined to a few provinces ; and it is probable 
that in an age or two the whole breed will be to- 
tally extirpated. M. Buffon, indeed, observes that 
in those districts where it is mostly found, it seems 
to maintain its usual plenty, and that the balance 
between its destruction and increase is held pretty 
even ; however, the number in general is known to 
decrease ; for wherever cultivation takes place 
the beasts of nature are known to retire. 
Many animals that once flourished in the world 
may now be extinct ; and the descriptions of 
Aristotle and Pliny, though taken from life, may 
be considered as fabulous, as their archetypes are 
no longer existing. 
The fawns continue to follow the deer eight or 
aine months in all ; and, upon separating, their 
Jftorns begin to appear, simple and without antlers 
the first year, as in those of the stag kind. These 
they shed at the latter end of autumn, and renew 
during the winter ; differing in this from the stag, 
who sheds them in spring, and renews them in sum- 
mer. When the roe buck's head is completely 
furnished, it rubs the horns against trees in the 
manner of the stag, and thus strips them of the 
rough skin and . the blood-vessels, which no 
