CHAPTER VII. 



THE ELK WHERE FOUND UNCOUTH LOOK ANTLERS HAUNTS SURE- 

 FOOTED FOOD MANNER OF FEEDING WEAPONS ENEMIES DOMESTI- 

 CATION NURTURED BY A COW. 



THE Elk (Elg, Sw. ; Cervus Alces, Linn.), though not 

 found in the vicinity of Ronnum, is tolerably common in 

 parts of Scandinavia. Formerly this animal was abundant 

 throughout all the more wooded districts of the peninsula ; 

 but owing to constant persecution, the breed, at no very 

 remote period, seemed likely to be exterminated. Of 

 late years, however, elks have been protected by legislative 

 enactments, and their numbers are now rapidly on the 

 increase. A quarter of a century ago, with the exception 

 of every tenth year, it was altogether prohibited to kill them 

 at any season ; but in Sweden at the present time they 

 may now be shot every year from the 1st of August to the 

 1st of December, and in Norway from the 1st of August to 

 the 1st of November. 



In no part of Scandinavia has the increase of the elk been 



