HABIT AND DOMESTICATION. 285 



with his antlers, and tried to reach me, not very viciously, but 

 still in an unpleasant way. I struck him a good blow on the 

 head, the force of which, however, was principally spent on his 

 antlers. The only effect was to increase his efforts to reach me. 

 I did not much like the situation and proposed a compromise. 

 I threw down an ear of corn a little to one side which he readily 

 •took, and another thrown still further away was accepted as a 

 peace offering. When he had finished them he walked quietly 

 away, and as I could not remember any other important busi- 

 ness in the park just then I concluded to return home. I gave 

 orders to have all the Elk turned into the North Park the next 

 morning, the propriety of which was the more apparent when 

 I learned that he had run every man out of the park that went 

 into it that same evening. 



In the morning he was absolutely furious, and would rush 

 against the fence with great force, at the sight of a man on the 

 opposite side, and would follow him along the fence, fighting it 

 all the way, and b}^ this means alone was he transferred from 

 the South to the North Park, and led to the north part of it 

 quite out of the way, while the balance of the^ herd were trans- 

 ferred to the same inclosure, the gates securely locked, and the 

 fence examined and repaired with the utmost care. If he did 

 not grow more vicious as the season advanced it was simply 

 because there was no room for him to do so. He was already at 

 the extreme point of wickedness, and so he could not go beyond 

 it. He was truly terrible. 



All visitors were of course excluded from the North Park, and 

 every possible notice given of the danger of invading it. Within 

 a month three men, who thought they knew best and were not 

 afraid of anybody's Elk, scaled the fence, and quietly walked 

 along till they met the herd of Elk, when the leader started after 

 them in a very dignified walk. They thought they had seen 

 enough, and commenced an orderly retreat. The Elk increased 

 his pace, and soon treed two of the party and killed the other. 

 One of them, a young, active, athletic man, left his tree and by 

 running from tree to tree finally escaped, gave the alarm, 

 raised a party who fought the Elk with pitch-forks till they 

 finally drove him off, although at first he drove the three resolute 

 active men, thus armed, several hundred feet before they could 

 sufficiently break his guard to compel him to acknowledge the 

 virtues of their sharp hay-forks. He did not charge upon them 

 with a rush, in the ordinary mode of joining battle practiced by all 



