134 THE DEER 



and is passed on to stomach number two iRet\ where there 

 are honeycomblike spaces which form it into balls or cuds. 

 From here, by a simultaneous contraction of the diaphragm 

 and abdominal muscles, this molded cud is forced up 

 into the mouth again, where it is chewed very fine while 

 the animal is resting. Finally it is again swallowed, and 

 being soft, it has not sufficient bulk to press open the 

 slit and drop into the first stomach, but passes along 

 over it to the third stomach, or manyplies {Ps\ and so 

 reaches the true digestive organ {A). 



The deer are among the most attractive of all animals — 

 graceful, timid, delicate of limb, with soft eyes and dainty 

 colors. They well adorn the leafy coverts which they 

 affect in all lands. The male deer is larger and has fine 

 branching horns, or antlers, which attain their full per- 

 fection and are cast yearly. The finest example of these 

 animals is the American elk, or wapiti, closely allied to 

 the famous red stag of England. It stands over five feet 

 at the shoulders, and is eight feet long and of command- 

 ing presence. The fully developed male has a veritable 

 crown in its spreading horns, the tips or points of which 

 increase with age. As many as forty-five of these points 

 have been counted on the English stag. 



The wapiti is a valiant foe when antlered, but it is help- 

 less when it loses its antlers. Some sections of the coun- 

 try, in Idaho, Wyoming, and other regions, seem to be 

 casting grounds, so plentiful are the antlers lying about. 

 In one Western town they have been collected by hundreds 

 and a fence made of them near the station. Bereft of its 

 horns, the stag is very defenseless. Near the end of 

 spring there is an increased flow of blood to the head, the 



