46 Account of the 



what facility they are brought to eat and drink certain 

 articles, which, in their wild state, they could not 

 have procured. 



The Elk, like the buffalo, the deer, and other ani- 

 mals, frequents the salines, or salt-licks, as they are 

 called, for the purpose of licking the saline earth. I 

 believe all these animals not only lick the saline mat- 

 ter, but even eat the earth impregnated with it. With- 

 in the memory of many persons now living, the droves 

 of Elks which used to frequent the salines near the 

 river Susquehanna, in Pennsylvania, were so great, 

 that for five or six miles leading to the licks, the paths 

 of these animals were as large as many of the great 

 public roads of our country. Eighty Elks have some- 

 times been seen in one herd, upon their march to the 

 salines. 



The rutting season of the Elk is in the months of 

 August and September, at which time the horns of 

 the male are in their greatest perfection. During this 

 season he is very furious, and makes a disagreeable, 

 and, to those not accustomed to it, a frightful noise, 

 between the bray of the stallion and the bellow of the 

 bull. At the commencement of the rutting season, 

 he is very fat, but, when it is over, he is extremely 

 lean. His penis is remarkably large, as is the vagina 

 of the female. Towards the end of May, or the be- 

 ginning of June, the female brings forth her young. 

 She has sometimes two, but, more commonly, only 



