DEER-SHOOTING 49 



moose swimming, but that they have the same habit in 

 this respect as other deer is certain. All trappers and 

 Indians assert it. 



The wipiti is " the elk " of Americans ; and it is 



almost as bulky an animal as the moose, but it varies 



greatly in size more so than any other species of deer 



with which I am acquainted. Sometimes cows do not 



weigh much more than three hundredweight, while bulls 



will be nearly half a ton. I have shot specimens which 



were quite as heavy as the largest bull moose. The 



average weight of both moose and wipiti when in good 



condition may be safely put at five hundredweight for 



cows and eight hundredweight for bulls. They are 



therefore magnificent animals, fully three times the 



weight of Scottish red deer. In height neither moose 



nor wipiti ever exceed by more than an inch or two six 



feet at the withers; though trappers, and especially 



American ones, tell of monsters eight and nine feet high. 



As a moose, or wipiti, of this height, if proportionate 



throughout, must weigh 6000 or 7000 pounds at least, 



the exaggeration of this estimate is palpable. I should 



state, as a modification of what I have written above, 



that the moose is slightly the tallest animal ; and that 



on looking over my notes five feet ten inches appears to 



have been the greatest height of a wipiti killed by me, and 



six feet three or four that of a moose. The usual height 



for bulls is five feet six for wipiti, five feet nine for moose. 



Both these deer bring forth their young in the desert 



and most retired thickets they can find ; and so jealous 



are they of discovery at this time that it is rare to see a 



cow with her calf until it is evidently some weeks, if not 



months, old. There is usually but a single calf; but I 



have seen both moose and wipiti with two. They pair 



in the autumn, and drop their calves in the spring. 



The smaller deer, found in the northern parts of the 

 States, do not seem to reach these high latitudes. At all 

 events I have never seen any signs of their so doing. 



D 



ARM 

 COLLEGE 



