A WONDERFUL GERMAN ROE HEAD 
Shot 12th January 1588, near Marburg in Hessen, by Landgraf Ludwig of Oberhessen. The original head is now in the Museum at Cassel, and it is 
considered by many to be the finest example in German collections. As the roebucks in Hessen cast their horns at the end of October or in November, it may be 
supposed that this buck, as sometimes happens, did not throw off at all that year. This irregularity, probably the effect of some disease or fault in the sexual 
organs, may account for the extraordinary size of the horns. The right horn, in a straight line, is 12 inches, the left 13 ; number of points, 16. Line A is 
3 inches long, whilst the same line in a Scotch roe is 2 f, so we see that the actual skull of this extraordinary head is but little larger than one of our 
own deer. 
CHAPTER X 
ROE-STALKING AND ROE HEADS 
From the sportsman’s point of view our little friend the roe hardly ever receives fair treat¬ 
ment or the consideration that he justly deserves ; for that reason I wish to put in a plea on 
his behalf. The rifle is the proper weapon with which to kill him where it is possible to do 
so, and there are plenty of estates in the North where, instead of the annual butchery of does 
and calves, really capital sport could be obtained with a little trouble. Even what is called 
a roe-hunt would have its justification were all those who take part in it good shots and 
properly armed; but the average man is not a good shot ; and, added to the fact that 
2 c 2 
