THE ELK IN NORWAY. 147 
herd. In such cases they endeavour to separate a deer 
from the main body; and if they succeed in so doing 
they set after it lke a pack of foxhounds after 
Reynard, following it unceasingly till they bring it 
down. Doubtless, many elk fall a prey to the wolf 
at this season, when the snow lies deep on the ground, 
as their long legs sink too deep in the snow to be 
of much service to them either in showing their heels 
or in using them as a means of offence. 
The lynx and the glutton have never been known to 
attack a full-grown elk. The attentions of these 
animals are confined to the young calves, or to any 
that have been wounded or are sick. 
Like the reimdeer, the elk is much tormented during 
the summer with musquitoes and all kinds of abominable 
flies, with which the forests and swamps of Norway 
abound. 
It has been computed that an elk seldom attains 
a greater age than sixteen or seventeen years. 
Wangenheim mentions that it is a common oc- 
currence to light upon dead elks in the forests of 
Lithuania. The diseases to which they are peculiarly 
lable are “splenitis” and “dysentery,” owing, pro- 
bably, to their making use of stagnant water im very 
hot summers. This can, however, scarcely be ap- 
plicable to the elk-deer in Norway, where 1i is scarcely 
possible, either in forest or on fjeld, to go a mile 
