Wapiti or Elk 53 



quite rapidly, with occasional awkward galloping plunges, in a 

 circle perhaps thirty feet in diameter. They were going in the 

 same direction as the hands of a watch, in the edge of a little 

 belt of second-growth timber — mainly, I think, quaking asp. 

 They were moving, not with heads up, but with noses only a 

 foot or two from the ground. My impression is that they were 

 all bulls. Owing to the dense clouds of dust which occasional 

 light puffs of wind blew almost toward me, I could not see 

 very clearly. It seemed to me that they were running about 

 as "milling" cattle do, except that I never knew of cattle to 

 "mill" in such a small bunch. I have related this incident 

 several times to hunters and trappers, who could offer no 

 explanation of it. There were large numbers of Elk in that 

 country at the time, in bands of various sizes." 



This remarkable exercise differs from the preceding in 

 that it has obvious relation either to the sexual instinct or to 

 hygiene. 



The natural history of monogamy is an interesting sub- matlvg 

 ject that is receiving some attention. In a recent number of 

 the Contemporary Review, Dr. Woods Hutchinson claims^" 

 that in the long run a monogamous race will triumph over a 

 polygamous one. He might have gone further, and pointed 

 out the facts that among birds the Pigeons as a family, and 

 among quadrupeds the CanidcB, are considered among the 

 most successful, that is, families which are spreading, and can 

 hold their own against all rivals, including man, and that 

 these two are strictly monogamous. Theoretically, polygamy 

 should be better for the race, since only the very finest 

 males leave progeny. Judge Caton has recorded" a curious 

 case that sheds light on this. Referring to Sultan, the great 

 bull Wapiti, that was monarch of the herd in his park for a 

 longer time than any other, he says: 



"At first his progeny were reasonably numerous, but 

 during the last few years of his life they gradually diminished 



** Animal Marriage, Contemporary Review, London, October, 1904, pp. 485-96. 

 " Antelope and Deer of America, 1877, pp. 294-5. 



