Wapiti or Elk 51 



cows have important duties ere long. Some time in May or 

 very early in June the portlier ones wander severally from the 

 herd into some quiet hollow, where are born the fawns or 

 calves, usually i to each mother, but sometimes 2, and 

 rarely 3. For a few days (one or two according to Caton)" 

 they are left concealed in the bushes after the manner of Deer, 

 though for a shorter time than with most other kinds. The 

 mother lurks in the neighbourhood and comes to suckle 

 them at times, no doubt as the pressure of milk gives notice, 

 and this is adjusted to the needs of the young. None can 

 see them now without marvelling at their stillness. They 

 feign to be logs, lumps, dead things, but all their pretty and 

 lawful deceit is belied by the bright, unblinking eyes, which 

 take in every movement of whoever happens to find them. 

 The white spots, so far from making the croucher conspicuous 

 under the leaves, look like the dappling spots of sunlight 

 glancing through foliage on a log or ground below. They are, 

 indeed, a valuable piece of protective colouration. 



For some days the calf is thus hidden; and even after it 

 is old enough to follow the mother she will hide it on the 

 appearance of danger. How it is made to understand the 

 danger — whether by signal from the mother or by sighting 

 the menace — I have not been able to determine. Late in 

 June, on the Yellowstone, I saw the cow Elks in bands and 

 the calves running with the mothers. 



I once saw a fawn that was born so late that on October 

 15 he was still in his full spots. He was, in fact, not yet 

 running with his mother, and must have been, therefore, less 

 than a week old. I saw her come to feed him. After he had 

 sucked as much as she thought proper, he teased her so much 

 that she ran away. He persisted in following, but she took 

 refuge in a water-hole, standing where it was nearly three feet 

 deep. He circled all round the edge, but did not dare to wet 

 his feet. 



In September the spots on most of the calves are much 

 faded, and, when their new coats come, with October, the 



" Antelope and Deer of America, 1877, p. 294. 



