THE ELK, OR WAPITI. 269 



be others ; and in many places they spread over the coun- 

 try like small herds of domestic cattle. This antlered 

 monarch of the forest stands about as high as a horse, and 

 often attains a weight of eight hundred pounds. Having 

 strong though lithe limbs, a full body, large dark eyes, and 

 a splendid head, which is adorned with magnificent branch- 

 ing antlers five or six feet in length, and bearing from five 

 to seven prongs each, it is, in my estimation, the finest 

 specimen of its family on the continent. It has a proud, 

 defiant, yet graceful mien, which makes it one of the most 

 superb adjuncts to a landscape, and its very gait is enough 

 to arouse the ardor of the most unimpressible sportsman, 

 it being the acme of easy yet vigorous motion. Its antlers, 

 which are highly prized for adorning dining-rooms, fre- 

 quently weigh from fifty to sixty pounds, so that they are 

 fit trophies to grace the proudest baronial halls. They 

 sometimes assume eccentric shapes ; for it is no very unu- 

 sual sight to see a burly stag with one of his antlers largely 

 pnlmated, and the other curving downward, instead of up- 

 ward, so that it resembles the bend of the horns so marked 

 in the mountain sheep. Such antlers are deemed to be 

 unusually valuable, as their eccentricity is highly prized by 

 collectors and ardent lovers of the chase. 



During the summer the color of the wapiti is a reddish- 

 chestnut, but it becomes darker in the autumn, and in win- 

 ter the hairs are tipped with a pale brown. The male has 

 long hairs on the neck and breast at all seasons, except the 

 summer, but these the female never possesses. The for- 

 mer has a bell of hairs on the throat that frequently at- 

 tains a length of five or six inches, but it seems to be long- 

 est on the largest species. 



The sexes differ considerably in size, the female being 

 much the smaller, and, unlike the antelope, she is devoid 

 of antlers ; yet one has been known occasionally to possess 

 these useful appendages a thing by no means uncommon 

 in the deer family. The animal ruts in September; but 

 the season being short, the sportsman will find the stags 

 in good condition about the latter end of November, and 



