182 THE WAPITI. 
timber. It is seldom an experienced hunter 
ventures to risk a shot when stalking, until within 
twenty yards of the moose. 
American Exx* or Wapiti (Cervus canaden- 
sis, Exl.).—This magnificent deer has a greater 
range, and is more widely and generally distri- 
buted, than any other deer in North-western 
America. It is found along the entire coast 
range from California to Sitka, on Vancouver 
Island, and on several of the islands in the Gulf 
of Georgia, on the east and west slopes of the 
Cascade Mountains, on the western slope of 
the Rocky Mountains, reaching an altitude in 
summer of 7,000 feet above the sea. I saw 
herds of these elks in the Klamath district; they 
grow to a large size in these rich pastures, at- 
taining a weight of from 500 to 700 pounds. 
The antlers are enormous in the adult animal, 
measuring six feet from tip to tip, and eleven 
inches in circumference above the burr. I 
scarcely think there are sufficient grounds for 
making this Oregon Elk a distinct species; it 
seems to me to be a well-marked variety only of 
the wapiti common to the eastern side of the 
Rocky Mountains. The wapiti on the Oregon 
* Tuse the term “/k, for the Wapiti, in its local sense. 
Strictly, it applies only to the Moose. 
