138 Deer and Antelope of North America 



great herds happen to approach one another under 

 the moonlight or in the early dawn. The pealing 

 notes echo through the dark valleys as if from 

 silver bugles, and the air is filled with the wild 

 music. Where little molested the wapiti chal- 

 lenge all day long. 



They can be easiest hunted during the rut, the 

 hunter placing them, and working up to them, by 

 the sound alone. The bulls are excessively trucu- 

 lent and pugnacious. Each big one gathers a 

 herd of cows about him and drives all possible 

 rivals away from his immediate neighborhood, 

 although sometimes spike bulls are allowed to 

 remain with the herd. Where wapiti are very 

 abundant, however, many of these herds may join 

 together and become partially welded into a mass 

 that may contain thousands of animals. In the 

 old days such huge herds were far from uncom- 

 mon, especially during the migrations ; but now- 

 adays there only remain one or two localities in 

 which wapiti are sufficiently plentiful ever to come 

 together in bands of any size. The bulls are inces- 

 santly challenging and fighting one another, and 

 driving around the cows and calves. Each keeps 

 the most jealous watch over his own harem, treat- 

 ing its members with great brutality ; and is sel- 

 fishly indifferent to their fate the instant he thinks 

 his own life in jeopardy. During the rut the 

 erotic manifestations of the bull are extraordinary. 



