214 



THE DEER OF AMERICA. 



this indentation in the top of the enlarged antler as a modifica- 

 tion, though an important one, of the forked extremity of the 

 antler of our Elk ; some of ivhich I had seen approach it in exter- 

 nal appearance. I have since met with a pair of Elk's antlers, 

 one of which has the indentation described, and is as perfect a 

 crown antler as is often met with from the red deer, while the 

 other approaches it very nearly. These ai'e illustrated in Fig. 13, 

 page 210. There may be many of these antlers found on the 

 Wapiti deer, but this is the only one I have ever met with, hav- 

 ing a dish at the end, with a capacity sufficient to hold a good 

 drink of wine.- These antlers may be compared with crown ant- 

 lers of the red deer by examining the illustrations^ 



Crown Antlers of the Red Deer or Stag of Europe. 



Abnormal snags may frequently occur on any p^rt of the beam 

 or the tines, more frequently on the brow-tines. These more 

 rarely occur on the Atlantic than on the Pacific coast. There, I 

 have found the brow-tine forked near the end into equal branches, 

 — an illustration of which I give. This I have never observed 

 on an eastern Elk, or on the red deer. On about five per cent, 

 of the antlers grown on Elk in the Rocky Mountains and east of 

 them, a short snag, more or less developed, appears on the upper 

 side and usually nearest the end of the brow-tine, and sometimes 

 on the bez-tine. This may be an inch long or a mere protuber- 

 ance. I examined a large collection of the antlers of the red deer 

 in Berlin, and found the same development on these tines there 

 and in about the same proportion. Those from Bohemia and 



