rattling pace before the hounds, though seldom giving a very long run. When the deer is
bayed he is not killed, and the hounds are whipped off.
Roe are poached a good deal in Scotland, and there are two districts in the North where
never a good animal is killed by the tenants. A good head is marked by the poachers in
June and July, and seldom gets a chance o f living till the arrival of the shooting tenant.
They are generally shot with a rifle at daybreak, and in two towns in the North there are
three men I know o f who do nothing else during these months,- One o f these, who, o f
course, lives in Inverness, was returning with a companion early one morning from
Dochfour when the latter, who had a roe on his back, and his loaded gun, in two pieces,
inside his long coat, stumbled in crossing a brook. The gun went off and shot the
unfortunate man dead on the spot. The other poacher was at once apprehended and, having
to give evidence in the case, proved satisfactorily that he was not in any way responsible for
his companion’s death. This same man had marked a buck with an exceptional head out
Moy way ; he killed it at daybreak, threw it over a wall into the road, and was preparing
to follow, when who should come driving along in his dog-cart but the laird himself.
There was nothing for it but to hide behind the wall. Now the laird too had had his eye
on that buck for some time, but had hardly expected to get it so easily. However, he said
nothing, merely threw the roe into his trap, and proceeded on his way.
About the most ingenious poaching trick for catching these animals, o f which Mr.
Steel, who knows all the poacher’s dodges, furnishes the illustration, is, when food is scarce,
to attach turnips or other food to a tree in some well-frequented spot. These are placed only
just within reach o f a roe standing on his hind legs, and immediately underneath the food
are fixed several large cod hooks, points upwards. In this barbarous mode o f capture one
turnip is generally placed below the hooks to. whet the appetites o f the hungry animals. On
straining to reach the food above, they get caught in the throat or under the jaw. This is
something similar to the method the poachers used to adopt in the old days in Devon and
Somersetshire, where deer get into the orchards and reach up for the apples. A tempting
apple was suspended by a chain from a strong pliant bough, and the deer, swallowing the
fruit, which o f course contained large hooksj was thus caught, and played himself to death
like a salmon.
Roe are also caught by strong wire snares in the passes, and a clever poacher who
adopts the shot-gun is generally accompanied by a small yapping terrier taught to take the
game in a circle and bring it back to his master, who lies, like Alphonse, “ dans un position
favorable.” Roe are but little frightened by a terrier, and will keep pottering along immediately
in front for great distances without leaving their regular beats and passes.
Eagles frequently attack roe, and the following description by Donald MacIntyre, the
head stalker o f Black Mount, is interesting, as it shows what a roebuck will do to save his