48 Game of Europe, W. & N. Asia & America 



beautiful Adirondack Mountains, to the eastward of New York, the last 

 elk was killed in or about the year 1861. During the middle seventies 

 elk became exceedingly scarce in Maine, but fortunately protective laws 

 were enacted before it had become too late ; and now, according to 

 Dr. Grinnell,^ elk are once more common in the forests of that State. 



In addition to Maine, the elk is found in the United States in the 

 Rocky Mountain region, where it extends as far south as the Yellowstone 

 Park, in Wyoming. Dr. Grinnell states that the most southern locality 

 known to him for elk is Fort Fetterman, in Wyoming, where a specimen 

 was killed some ten years ago. 



An excellent account of the habits and mode of life of the American 

 elk (moose) will be found in Dr. Merriam's Mamiimb of the Adirondack 

 Region, while for a more sporting description the reader may refer to 

 Colonel Rooseveldt's well-known work on American big game. The 

 fact that at certain times of the year elk feed largely on bark is probably 

 familiar to many, but the manner in which these animals strip trees is 

 doubtless much less commonly known. Writing in Shooting and Fishing for 

 24th Jan. 1 901, Mr. W. P. Barnes has the following observations on the 

 subject : — 



"The way in which a bull moose will rip the bark of the young beech 

 trees when it gets into an open piece of hardwood is astonishing. Trees 

 seven and eight feet high were stripped of their bark. At other places 

 where there was an opening they would play, and the way they wouKl 

 tread the leaves into the ground and hook the hair out ot each other would 

 lead one to believe there had been a terrible battle fought." 



1 Outing, vol. xxxxii. p. 256 (igoo). 



