Southern (American) Elk. 39 



the autumn, it is of a blueish grey-colour : in the 

 winter, of a darker grey, which continues until the 

 spring, when it changes to a reddish colour, or bright 

 brown. This last colour it keeps during the summer 

 season. The rump is of a pale yellowish white or 

 clay-colour. This colour, which extends around the 

 tail on all sides, for about six or seven inches, is, I 

 believe, a constant mark ; and, as it is not exclusively 

 confined to either sex, may afford a good specific dis- 

 tinction in the description of the animal. 



The female Elk, as well as the female moose, is en- 

 tirely destitute of horns. The horns of the male are 

 very large, being often at least five feet in height. I 

 have heard of a pair which measured above six feet in 

 height. They served the purpose of an arch, or gate- 

 way, to a gentleman's country-seat. I have already 

 said, that the Elk's horns are not palmated like those 

 of the moose, but that they are rounded. They con- 

 sist of three principal divisions, viz., 1. the brow- 

 antlers, which are called, by some of our hunters, 

 " the altars;" 2. the two middle prongs, sometimes 

 called the " fighting horns;" and 3. the horns, pro- 

 perly so called. Carver has remarked, that the Elk's 

 horns have " all their teeth or branches on the outer 

 edge*." It is, I believe, strictly true, that none of 

 the prongs, or subdivisions of the horns, are on the 

 inner edge. They are all either exterior, anterior, or 

 posteriorf. This arrangement furnishes a striking dif- 



* Travels, Sec. p. 418. 



t " When the animal enters his third year, a single prong or** 

 point comes out on the inside of the left horn ; the next year, a 



