The Wapiti or Round-Homed Elk. 167 



eye ; and instantly his bearing of haughty and warlike 

 self-confidence changed to one of alarm. My bullet smote 

 through his shoulder-blades, and he plunged wildly for- 

 ward, and fell full length on the blood-stained snow. 



Nothing can be finer than a wapiti bull's carriage when 

 excited or alarmed ; he then seems the embodiment of 

 strength and stately grace. But at ordinary times his 

 looks are less attractive, as he walks with his neck level 

 with his body and his head outstretched, his horns lying 

 almost on his shoulders. The favorite gait of the wapiti 

 is the trot, which is very fast, and which they can keep up 

 for countless miles ; when suddenly and greatly alarmed, 

 they break into an awkward gallop, which is faster, but 

 which speedily tires them. 



I have occasionally killed elk in the neighborhood of 

 my ranch on the Little Missouri. They were very plentiful 

 along this river until 1881, but the last of the big bands 

 were slaughtered or scattered about that time. Smaller 

 bunches were found for two or three years longer ; and to 

 this day, scattered individuals, singly or in parties of two 

 or three, linger here and there in the most remote and 

 inaccessible parts of the broken country. In the old 

 times they were often found on the open prairie, and were 

 fond of sunning themselves on the sand bars by the river, 

 even at midday, while they often fed by daylight (as they 

 do still in remote mountain fastnesses). Nowadays the 

 few survivors dwell in l?he timber of the roughest ravines, 

 and only venture abroad at dusk or even after nightfall. 

 Thanks to their wariness and seclusiveness, their presence 

 is often not even suspected by the cowboys or others who 



