American Big Game in its Haunts 



large game preserves of eastern Germany, where 

 the Emperor, with his somewhat remarkable ideas 

 of sportsmanship, annually adds several to his list 

 of slaughtered game. They are comparatively 

 abundant in Scandinavia, especially in Norway, 

 where they are preserved with great care. They 

 still survive in considerable numbers in Russia and 

 Siberia as far east as Amurland. 



Without going into a detailed description of the 

 anatomical differences between the European elk 

 and the American moose, it may be said that the 

 old world animal is much smaller in size and 

 lighter in color. The antlers are less elaborate 

 and smaller in the European animal, and corre- 

 spond to the stage of development reached by the 

 average three-year-old bull of eastern Canada. 

 There is a marked separation of the main antler 

 and the brow antlers. That this deterioration of 

 both body and antlers is due partly to long con- 

 tinued elimination of the best bulls, and partly to 

 inbreeding, is probable. We know that the de- 

 cline of the European red deer is due to these 

 causes, and that a similar process of deterioration 

 is showing among the moose in certain outlying 

 districts in eastern North America. 



The type species of this group, known as Alces 

 machlis, was long considered by European natural- 



376 



