THE WAPITI. 191 



water-lilies, entering the ponds to find them, 

 and feeding on them greedily. The wapiti 

 is very fond of wallowing in the mud, and of 

 bathing in pools and lakes ; but as a rule it 

 shows as little fondness as the blacktail for 

 feeding on water-lilies or other aquatic 

 plants. 



In reading of the European red deer, which 

 is nothing but a diminutive wapiti, we often 

 see a " a stag of ten " alluded to as if a full- 

 grown monarch. A full-grown wapiti bull, 

 however, always has twelve, and may have 

 fourteen, regular normal points on his ant- 

 lers, besides irregular additional prongs ; and 

 he occasionally has ten points when a two- 

 year-old, as I have myself seen with calves 

 captured young and tamed. The calf has no 

 horns. The yearling carries two foot-long 

 spikes, sometimes bifurcated, so as to make 

 four points. The two-year-old often has six 

 or eight points on his antlers ; but some- 

 times ten, although they are always small. 

 The three-year-old has eight or ten points, 

 while his body may be nearly as large as 

 that of a full-grown animal. The four-year- 

 old is normally a ten or twelve pointer, but as 

 yet with much smaller antlers than those so 

 proudly borne by the old bulls. 



Frontiersmen only occasionally distinguish 

 the prongs by name. The brow and bay 

 points are called dog-killers or war-tines ; the 

 tray is known simply as the third point ; and 

 the most characteristic prong, the long and 

 massive fourth, is now and then called the 

 dagger-point; the others being known as the 

 fifth and sixth. 



