Roe-Stalking and Roe Heads 
221 
Mr. C. M. P. Burn sent me a photo of his best heads some time ago, and amongst them 
is a very fine 8-pointer with forked brows—a very rare type. 
The best head killed in 1896 was certainly an extraordinary one as far as size went, but 
one horn, 10^- inches, was much bigger than the other, and the shape was poor. It was shot 
by a poacher in Darnaway. Snowie kindly sent it to me to look at. The same year 
Mr. H. M. Warrand killed an 11-inch head in Ross-shire, of which he kindly sent me a 
photo, but beyond its unusual length it was not good in any other respect. 
The only Scotch 12-point roe head I have seen is now in the possession of Mr. Warrand, 
and I was lucky enough to examine and sketch it just as this work was going to press. Such 
a number of points is indeed remarkable, and I 
doubt if there is another such example in Scot¬ 
land. All the points, though small, are genuine 
points , capable of fulfilling the old powder-horn 
test. They are not in any way connected with 
excrescences of the roughings, which are some¬ 
times erroneously counted as points. The his¬ 
tory of this remarkable head is roughly as 
follows. It was killed by a poacher in the 
Gaick and Stillenham woods, just above the 
factor’s house on the estate of Ardross. The 
keeper, however, caught the sinner in flagrante 
delicto , and inflicted no other punishment beyond 
seizing the carcass. The head has passed into 
the possession of the late Mr. Maclean, for many 
years factor of Ardross, and latterly, after remain¬ 
ing some time in the widow’s hands, it has been 
obtained by Mr. Hugh Warrand, who has kindly 
furnished me with these details. 1 
A curious roe head (figured) with a double 
coronet on the left horn was shot by Mr. George 
Inglis at Newmore in Ross-shire in 1896. The 
upper coronet is said to be the true one, whilst the lower, which is very large, seems to 
surround the pedicle and lie flat on the skull. 
It is very remarkable how, in the case of roe, any injury to the testicles seems to affect 
the surface of the horns rather than the beam of the horn itself. An additional amount of 
blood and osseous matter goes on travelling in a sort of chronic state from the pedicles till 
long after such a flow should have ceased. The result is, when the injury is rather severe, to 
produce great heavy horns, over which the roughings, which, as a rule, only are seen up 
to a certain point, extend right to the very tips of the points. These are commonly called 
perruque heads ; but I think that it is erroneous to class these solid-beamed heads with 
1 A head in the possession of Ross, the head stalker at Amot, was said to have had 12 points, but having been seen and 
examined by two friends in whose judgment I can place entire confidence, there is no doubt the number of points is exaggerated ; 
some of the roughings have been counted by mistake. 
ROE WITH EXTRA CORONET ON THE LEFT HORN 
