96 The Ottawa Naturalist. [July 



of the elk himself, but his father used to tell him stories of shoot- 

 ing them in that part of the country when he was young. Figured 

 out at the time, I thought it was quite 100 years ago when this 

 great deer roamed in these parts. 



I have an interesting collection of elk antlers ; one, a perfect 

 specimen, measures forty inches in length and has seven points, 

 one only of which is broken off. . Another, a broken one, a cut of 

 which accompanies this sketch, must have belonged to a large ani- 

 mal. This piece is thirty inches long and measures thirteen inches 

 in circumference where it joined the skull. I have several small 

 pieces, all of which were found in this neighborhood and in the 

 adjoining county, Lambton. From the state of decay all are in, 

 I can quite believe it is more than a century since they fell from 

 the heads of the animals to which they belonged. 



The most perfect specimen I know of, belongs to Mr. George 

 Wilson, of Strathroy. This set of antlers is in a perfect state of 

 preservation and must have been carried by a noble animal. Each 

 antler measures fifty-five inches in length ; one has seven points 

 and the other six. The longest point is eighteen inches. The 

 greatest spread is thirty-four inches, and the weight when found 

 was 35 pounds. Mr. Wilson obtained this grand set on his farm, 

 lot 15 in the 12th concession in the township of Lobo, about 

 seventeen years ago, and now has it mounted, in good shape, in 

 his hall, where it makes a fine ornament. 



This set of antlers was found in a boggy spring where Mr. 

 Wilson had bored for water, of which he obtained a bountiful 

 supply. Some time subsequently his sons, while digging a little 

 ditch to carry off the surplus water, came on the horns. They 

 also found bones which were part of the skeleton, and, as the 



