MAMMALIA — AMERICAN ELK. 



345 



contents, is a very favorite dish with almost all the savages, especially 

 toward the north, where deer feed in a great degree on mosses and buds. 



This species of deer has very keen senses, especially of hearing and 

 smelling, upon which its safety particularly depends. It is a very shy and 

 timid animal, and the slightest noise excites his attention, and if the cause 

 of alarm be continued, he exerts his strength, and dashes off in his swiftest 

 career. It is said by hunters to evince a strong degree of animosity towards 

 serpents, and especially to the rattlesnake, of which it has an instinctive 

 horror. In order to destroy one of these creatures, the deer makes a bound 

 into the air, and alights upon the snake with all four feet brought together 

 in a square, and these violent blows are repeated till the hated reptile is 

 destroyed. The skins of this deer continue to form a very valuable article 

 of commerce, and furnish a material better adapted for the manufacture 

 of gloves and other articles, than the skin of any other animal with which 

 we are acquainted. 



THE 



AMERICAN ELK, CANADA STAG, 

 OR WAPITI. 1 



This species is second in size to the moose alone. The size and appear- 

 ance of the elk are imposing ; his air denotes confidence of great strength, 

 while his towering horns exhibit weapons capable of doing much injury 

 when offensively employed. It is not uncommon to see them four or five 



feet in height, and it is said they are sometimes still higher. The elk has 

 at one period ranged over the greater part, if not the whole, of this conti- 

 nent. Hearne leaves no doubt of its existence as far north as fifty-three 



i Cervus major, Ord. 



44 



