The Deer Tribe 



275 



Photo by C. Reid] 



[ Wishaw, N.B. 



upon the legs. Under the 

 throat of the male hangs a 

 singular appendage, a sort of 

 tassel of hair and skin, known 

 to American hunters as the 

 " bell." The build of the elk 

 is clumsy, and the mighty 

 beast entirely lacks the grace 

 characteristic of so many 

 others of the deer kind. It 

 has in truth a strangely 

 primeval, old-world aspect, and 

 seems rather to belong to 

 prehistoric ages than to 

 modern times. 



In Scandinavia elk are 

 hunted usually in two ways 

 by driving, or with a trained 

 dog held in leash. In the 

 royal forests of Sweden great 

 bags are made at these 

 drives; and in the year 1885, 

 when a great hunt was got 

 up for the present King of 

 England, forty-nine elk were 

 slain. Except during the 

 rutting-season these titanic 

 deer are extremely shy and 

 suspicious creatures, and the greatest precautions have to be taken in hunting them. 



In Canada moose are often shot during the rutting-season by " calling," a rude horn of 

 birch-bark being used, with which the hunter simulates the weird, hoarse roar of the animals, 

 as they call to one another, or challenge in the primeval woodlands and morasses of the wild 

 North. Still-hunting or tracking spooring, as it would be called in South Africa is another 

 and extremely fatiguing method ; while yet another mode of hunting is that practised by Indian 

 and half-breed hunters in winter, when, the sportsman being mounted on snow-shoes, the moose 

 is followed, run into and shot in deep snow. In this sport the hunter has much the better 

 of it. The moose, with its vast weight and sharp hoofs, plunges through the frozen snow-crust, 

 over which the snow-shoes carry the biped easily enough, and, becoming presently exhausted, 

 is shot without much difficulty. Elk usually run at a steady, slinging trot, and traverse 

 extraordinary distances, apparently with little fatigue. 



KED DEER. 



We come now to a group of what are called typical deer, the KED DEER, found in various 

 parts of the world. The red deer, which once roamed over much of Britain, is now in the 

 wild state confined chiefly to the Highlands of Scotland, Exmoor, part of County Kerry in 

 Ireland, and various islands on the west coast of Scotland. A good male specimen will stand 

 about 4 feet or a little less at the shoulder, carry antlers bearing twelve or fourteen points, 

 and weigh from 16 to 20 stone clean that is, with the heart, liver, and lungs taken out. 

 The woodland stags of Perthshire, however, not infrequently reach 25 stone, while Mr. J. G. 

 Millais mentions a stag, killed by Colonel the Hon. Alastair Fraser at Beaufort, Inverness-shire, 

 which scaled 30 stone 2 Ibs. clean. This seems to be the heaviest British wild stag of modern 

 times. The summer coat is short, shining, and reddish brown in hue ; in winter the pelage is 



PARK BED DEEE. 

 The typical representative of the entire Deer Tribe. 



