Roe Deer 
173 
of Buccleuch’s ground, they were killed off, as they interfered with the foxhounds. They 
are plentiful in Peeblesshire, and particularly so in Dumfriesshire. In Wigtownshire they are 
also numerous, particularly in the Newton-Stewart and Monreith country. All these south- 
country roe are said to owe their existence to some which were reintroduced by the first 
Marquis of Ailsa at the beginning of the present century at his estate Culzean Castle, 
Maybole. These few deer, introduced by him in fifty years, increased to such an alarming 
ROHALLION WOODS (PERTHSHIRE), THE ANCIENT HUNTING GROUND FOR ROE OF THE KINGS OF SCOTLAND 
From a photograph by Geoffrey Millais. 
extent that they became quite a plague, and orders were given for their entire extermination. 
In one year this was to a large extent carried out by Lord David Kennedy, who was one of 
the finest rifle-shots of his day, and is still alive and hearty. There is no doubt that within 
the first year an enormous number of roe were killed on the Culzean estate, and Lord David 
says he is well within the mark when he states that between six and seven hundred roe 
were killed within the first twelve months of the shooting. He himself, strolling about the 
glades and the edges of the woods, often killed six and seven good bucks in an evening; 
and the present Marquis of Ailsa, in a letter to me, states, “ When I was a child I can 
remember that enormous quantities of roe deer used to exist here. They had to be killed 
