184 TEX YEAES IS SWEDEN. 



The winter skalls are smaller, and generally pretty certain 

 of success. 



The largest stall in my recollection took place in Mora 

 parish, in Dalecarlia, in Midsummer, 1856. They drove the 

 forests for three days up to Wengan Lake, where the skall 

 place was fixed. The men engaged amounted to 5,000, 

 and the line of beaters extended above 50 English 

 miles. Sixteen bears, young and old, were killed, which, as 

 many of the peasants observed, was very little to compen- 

 sate for the loss of about 25,000 days' work at this busy 

 season of the year. 



The Elk stands next on my list. It will be seen that only 

 two months are allowed for the chase of the elk, and most 

 probably the season will hereafter be limited to August and 

 September. Owing to the stringent manner in which the 

 elk are now preserved, they are gradually spreading over 

 the midland forests, and there is good sport to be had in 

 many of the forests in South Wermland ; but they do not 

 go further south, nor do they range further north than about 

 64, or just where the southern limit of the wild reindeer in 

 Sweden ends. But in Norway the wild reindeer come 

 further south, and in that country the elk goes as far upon 

 the fells as the pine grows. With us they appear to 

 have their favourite forests and haunts. They chiefly 

 frequent wild desolate forests far away from the dwelling 

 of man, and are partial to swampy, low tracts near water, 

 where the sallow, willow, aspen, and other green trees, 

 grow, of whose bark and leaves they appear to be very fond. 

 In these tracts they keep together during the summer, 

 generally in families, of rarely more than six to eight. In 

 the autumn, however, they congregate in small flocks of 

 fifteen to twenty. They now usually keep about one spot, 

 and such a place is called in these forests an " elgstand." 

 Towards winter they again separate, and draw up into the 

 higher forests, into the thick pine woods, where they seek 

 shelter from the wind and storm. The rutting season is in 

 the end df September, and now the old males are often dan- 

 gerous to meet in the forests. The female brings forth in 



