big buck the same night and he turned the scale at 63 lbs., which Q 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 o f G .’s aimed at the special pride and conceit I took in my new ejectors, whujEM
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 generalt||.nly on
veld 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 o f being quite at
home in the water. T h e roe, however, most probably owing to his long, sjnndly legs, is
not nearly so strong'or so fast a swimmer as the sta%, and he moves but slowly.
I had a splendijSbpportunity one day at Murthly o f judging the respective powers of
a dog and a roe in the water. W e were beating the Biars Wood, which flanks the river on
the west bank, in which there was a good rfSBuck. 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 doW which I did at pftce.
Jet needed no encouragement, fpr 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 0:1c o f 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 sidaj A tremendous
struggle now ensued, the: roe fighting to maintain a hold on the stones, and Jet pulling
and wrestling to keep him i f the water. One or theother, 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 qua rte r^! a mile
down on our side o f the river. W e had great fun with poor Willie James about tb»j||0e>
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 rbeJijse makes a charming pet, but the buck, i f kept in confinement a n d g o w e d
to become very tame, which he soon does, is never to be trusted. Once having reached
maturity he exhibits a savage disregard for every o n e ,S p e c ia lly women, and will on a
:sudden attack with the greatest futy. I have known a roebuck make an onslaught on a
man armed with a good stick, and the biped was glad g|escape with nothing injured but
his breechies- and his amour propre. A boy twelve years o f 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 o f the Murthly keepers kept
1 j ust 35 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.