FAMILY CERVIDjE. 119 



scribed by a dark circular marginal line. Limbs on the anterior part deep brown. Chin light- 

 colored. Tail yellowish. 



Total length, 84 ■ - 90 • 0. Length of tail, . . 2 • - 4 • 0. 



Length of head, . 24 '0. Height, 52-0-56-0. 



The American Stag has long been confounded with the Stags of Europe. It seems first to 

 have been treated as a distinct species by Ray, in the work cited above. It was then noticed 

 by Jefferson as an elk, but was first fully described and figured by Dr. Smith in the Medical 

 Repository, from living individuals obtained from the State of Maine. It has also, from the 

 popular names applied to it, been confounded with the American Moose just noticed. It is 

 called in various parts of the country, Red Deer, Stag, Grey Moose, La Biche, Wapiti, Grey 

 Elk, and Round-homed Elk. 



It is surprising that for so large, and in some districts so common an animal, so little is 

 known of its habits. They feed on grass and the young shoots of trees, and are represented 

 as being easily tamed, and have been trained to go in harness. Hearne observes that they are 

 the most stupid of the deer kind, and make a shrill whistling noise, not very unlike the braying 

 of an ass. Other writers, however, represent them as exceedingly astute and wary, exercising 

 great sagacity to avoid the snares of the hunter. 



Major Smith, in Griffith's Cuvier, has given the fullest account of the American Stag ; but 

 there are a few inaccuracies in that description, which it may not be improper to notice. He 

 describes the horns of a specimen shot on Long Island, with six antlers each, and measuring 

 three feet in length. My friend T. Floyd Jones, Esq., living at Oysterbay, Queens county, 

 has had in his possession for many years a very large pair, sent to him from the west, and it 

 is possibly to these that Major Smith alludes ; but there is not even traditionary evidence of 

 its having existed on Long Island since its first settlement by the Europeans. 



The Stag is still found in the State of New-York, but very sparingly, and will doubtless be 

 extirpated before many years. Mr. Beach, an intelligent hunter on the Raquet, assured me that 

 in 1836, he shot at a stag, (or as he Called it, an elk,) on the north branch of the Saranac. 

 He had seen many of the horns, and describes this one as much larger than the biggest buck 

 [C.virgihianus), with immense long and rounded horns, with many short antlers. His ac- 

 count was confirmed by another hunter, Vaughan, who killed a stag at nearly the same place. 

 They are found in the northwestern counties of Pennsylvania, and the adjoining counties of 

 New-York. In 1834, I am informed by Mr. Philip Church, a stag was killed at Bolivar, 

 Allegany county. My informant saw the animal, and his description corresponds exactly 

 with this species. 



