CH A P T E R IX
ROE DEER
We can fairly gtofss by the remains left to iljjo f the Pleistocene mammals that they were iii
every respect finer than their descendants o f to-day. Yet on overlooking the remains of
roe found in the Norfolk forest-bed, the brick-earths o f the Thames valley, the fens J Ï the
east coast, and certain cawliis, the English animal o f thos^days was certainly not supenor to
its descendants o f to-day. Amongst their horns and skulls in the BS|is% Museum there is
nothing that would pass as those o f a first-ëUgf roe o f to-day. This is certainly surprising
when we Sis ide rjh'ow the red deer have detenoratH and I ceitainly entertained till thé
year ffgtt; the belief that Pleistocene roe all over Great Britain were even inferior to modern
roe, b u t * that year I obtained® the north o f SpotlyH the single horn and p a r t® the
skull. Of a roe dug out o f the peat moss at Alness, in Ross-shir®Eig. 4, p. 1 7 ® which
indicated that it had belonged to a really larger type o f animal. And again in M | I
received from Perth a -still more remarkable horn, attached to the skull in the same way,
I i i had been found in the Tay valley, and evidently at a greater depth, though I could not
obtain exact particulars (Fig. 5, p. 171). For the beigfit-ofJhe Student®ive_a photograph
these two fine'horns, which are 11 and 1 i f inches in length respectively, with the g w
points of 5 and 6 f in lh S to g e th e r with what would be considered nowadays a good adult
buck’s horn, as well as an exceptional Scotch horn, and one of the massive, big,||ronated
horns from Lissadell, Sligo, Ireland, which Sir Henry Gore Booth has kindly sent me.
Curiously enough, the roe was unknown in Ireland during Pleistoeëhë times. N ow a days
the only place where they are kept is at LisSadelA here they are a recent introduction*
There is little doubt that the mild climate and abundant feeding are entirely suitable to them,
whilst the grass grown on a limeston|§Formation has the effect o f producing fine horn-
growth. jgshall refer further to their heads in tjie next chapter. Formerly there were roe
at Colebrooke, but how they became extinct there I have not heard.
In England there are still a few roe found in .Cumberland and Northumberland, though
they appear to be on the decrease. In Wales they wore supposed to have lingered as late as
the feign o f Queen Elizabeth, and Mr. G. Assheton-Smith told me he had recently
introduced them into Vaynol Park, but that he considered them delicate and hard to
acclimatise. In Dorsetshire they were introduced into the Blackmo6r( Vale country by the
Roe Deer i n x
grandfather of the present Earl o f Ilchest&r, and when I visited the neighbourhood in 1896
I learned that they were well Oil the increase. Here it was that in rÉ|§, under the direction
o f Mr. Hurting, eight roe were caught and transported 'fijlEpping Forest, where they were
turned out, for théipecies had long been extinct; there. A t the latest ie â p t J • f b f t
animals had increased to thirteen.
There a re a few roe in the woods by Virginia W a te r ,® well fsjat Petworth in w f f ïx ,
»fid there were certainly some in the heather and S r country near- Swinley in Surrey as late
as 1894, S Mr. Garth’s hounds killed two bucks in that year, whilst another wis^ïetîn.
There are a g some in the N ew Forest.
It i’s scarcely necessary to enumerate all the f§|tiicts in Scotland north o f the Tweed
I
and the Clyde where roe are found, for they occur throughout the whole o f the north
where the ground is suitable. The actual districts where roe are at their best in Scotland
are within circuits drawn with a radius o f 15 miles from the towns' o f Perth, Forres, and
Beauly. Within these three circles are situated the biggest woods in Scotland, and as their
undergrowth and pasture furnish both good cover and good feeding, the roe here reach
their best both in body and horn.
From Perth itself there is a continuous chain o f low-ground woods bordering on
cultivation both west and north. One almost continuous forest passes up the valley o f the
Earn, comprising the woods o f Dupplin, Trinity-Gask, Gask, Strathallan, Balgowan, Foulis-
Wester, Methven, and right on to Crieff. Another forest practically extends up the Tay
valley with few breaks to Blair. I have shot in these two districts for many years, and have