THIRTY TEARS A HUNTER. 119 



can easily perceive whether it proceeds from a buck 

 or a doe, and replies to it in the tone of the opposite 

 sex, until the animal approaches within shot. In the 

 month of March the elk sheds his antlers, and new 

 ones begin to grow about the middle of April, which 

 arrive at their full growth in August. During the 

 process of their formation they are covered with a 

 substance of a reddish-brown color, called the velvet 

 under which course innumerable blood-vessels. At 

 this period they are extremely sensitive, but about 

 the middle of August, when they have attained their 

 full growth, they lose their sense of feeling, and the 

 animal begins to rub them against the trees to 

 remove the velvet. During this process the antlers 

 have a gory appearance, but at length the extraneous 

 matter is all removed, and they appear in their per- 

 fect state, seamed in every direction by the traces of 

 the blood vessels with which they were covered 

 luring their growth. The tail of the elk is about 

 five inches long, and is similar to that of a bear.. 

 Their color in winter is a dun, which changes in 

 April or May to a light reddish-brown, except the 

 hips, which are always yellow, like those of a deer. 

 The motion of the elk is an ambling trot, which it 

 will maintain for a long period, without apparent 

 fatigue. Sometimes they will run six or seven days 

 before they become exhausted. In their manner of 

 breeding, as well as many other things, they resem- 

 ble domestic cattle. They bring forth their young 

 in May — rarely more than one at a time, and never 

 more than two. 



