194 British Deer and their Horns 
big buck the same night and he turned the scale at 63 lbs., which I fancy must be a very 
unusual weight. I have not since seen any roe to approach this one in size ; he was a little 
giant amongst his species. Next day when I was out shooting, my brother Geoff took an 
excellent photo of the three roe. The reader will doubtless criticise the gun, but that was a 
little joke of G.’s aimed at the special pride and conceit I took in my new ejectors, which 
were then innovations. I can get no particulars from the Forres districts, where roe are 
exceptionally fine, and I do not know what is the maximum weight the best bucks ever 
attain there. 1 Fat is rarely found on roe except at Christmas, and then generally only on 
yeld does. 
Roe swim very deep in the water, in fact, deeper than any other British quadruped, yet 
the head is held clear and high, and the animal gives one the impression of being quite at 
home in the water. The roe, however, most probably owing to his long, spindly legs, is 
not nearly so strong or so fast a swimmer as the stag, and he moves but slowly. 
I had a splendid opportunity one day at Murthly of judging the respective powers of 
a dog and a roe in the water. We were beating the Biars Wood, which flanks the river on 
the west bank, in which there was a good roebuck. I presently saw him going for the 
pass under the river-bank, close to where my brother-in-law was standing. The latter did 
not see the animal until it was close to him, and then fired two shots in a great hurry. The 
buck thereupon sprang straight into the Tay, which was in heavy spate, and the shooter, 
thinking that it was badly wounded, shouted to me to bring my dog, which I did at once. 
Jet needed no encouragement, for she saw the buck in the river as soon as I did, and put 
on all steam to catch her quarry before he reached the farther shore. But the stream was 
very heavy, and both animals, trying to quarter it, were carried down several hundred yards. 
It was one of the most exciting chases I have ever seen, for the gallant dog caught the buck 
by the ear just as he was feeling his feet in the shallows on the other side. A tremendous 
struggle now ensued, the roe fighting to maintain a hold on the stones, and Jet pulling 
and wrestling to keep him in the water. One or the other, however, had to pause for breath 
sooner or later, and it was the roe that gave in first. Quick as thought, the gallant dog 
shifted her grip from the ear to the throat, and the battle was hers. She never let go after 
this, and the buck was dead from suffocation when I met her again a quarter of a mile 
down on our side of the river. We had great fun with poor Willie James about this roe, 
for when I came to skin it there was not a single pellet to be found, and the head now 
adorns my walls labelled “Jet’s roe.” 
A roe doe makes a charming pet, but the buck, if kept in confinement and allowed 
to become very tame, which he soon does, is never to be trusted. Once having reached 
maturity he exhibits a savage disregard for every one, especially women, and will on a 
sudden attack with the greatest fury. I have known a roebuck make an onslaught on a 
man armed with a good stick, and the biped was glad to escape with nothing injured but 
his breeches and his amour propre. A boy twelve years of age was killed by a tame 
roebuck a few seasons ago at Brighton. I have kept two roebucks, and both became 
“impossible” creatures after the third year. One that one of the Murthly keepers kept 
1 Just as this work goes to press, Mr. Sidney Steel, who is staying at Burgie, tells me he shot a buck there this month 
(January 1897) that weighed 52 lbs. 
