Southern (American) Elk. 43 



to contribute to their nourishment, and protection 

 from injuries. It is said, that the female makes no 

 use of the oil, unless when she is wounded. In this 

 case, she " opens the bag with her tooth, and applies 

 the oil, by means of her tongue, to the wound*." In 

 the rutting season, the Elk,, we are told, throws his 

 urine upon the oil-bag, which, being thereby inflamed, 

 «mits a strong scent, that enables the sexes to disco- 

 ver each other in the woods. There is some truth, 

 mixed with a good deal of fable, in these several sto- 

 ries. I am sorry that I am not able to separate, as I 

 could wish, the true from the false. The last men- 

 tioned circumstance, however, seems altogether un- 

 worthy of belief. 



I cannot speak confidently respecting the geogra,- 

 phical range of the Elk. As far as I have been able 

 to collect any information on the subject, it appears 

 to me, that this animal first makes its appearance, to- 

 wards the northward, nearly in the same latitude in 

 which the moose ceases to be commonf- ! am tolcl 

 that the elk inhabits the country between Lakes Mi- 

 chigan and Huron, but that it is unknown in the 

 neighbourhood of Lake- Superior, where the moose is 

 common. I can trace our animal about as far north 

 as latitude 44°, or 44° 30'. Beyond this, I have no 

 certain information of its existence. But it is highly 



* See Dr. Smith, in the Medical Repository, p. 173. 



f " I could never (says Mr. Jefferson) learn that the round- 

 horned Elk has been seen further north than the Hudson's River." 

 Notes, &c. p. 95. 



