HIS HAUNTS. 103 



great facility in traversing bogs and marshy ground. His 

 usual pace when alarmed is a long trot, very many 

 feet intervening between each stride ; but he can, if he 

 chooses, as is not unfrequently the case, go at a tremendous 

 gallop. 



The elk's sense of smell is exquisitely fine. With care 

 and caution, if one goes against the wind, he is not very 

 difficult of approach, more particularly during stormy 

 weather. But if he once scents a man, which he can do 

 at an immense distance, he is off like lightning. Bears 

 and other beasts will, when chased, halt every now and 

 then, arid perhaps, if the pursuit ceases, remain stationary. 

 But it is not so with the elk ; for once started, and whether 

 followed or not, he, without looking behind him for a single 

 instant, speeds on his course. Once in a time, it is true, 

 after running two or three miles, he may halt ; but more 

 commonly he goes at least double that distance before 

 coming to a stand-still, and this too in the winter, when 

 there may be two or three feet of snow on the ground. 



The elk delights in the recesses of the forests. In the 

 summer time his favourite resorts are low and marshy 

 grounds, where there is abundance, not only of water, but 

 of deciduous trees. In the winter time he seeks the 

 higher grounds and the thicker covers, for the reason, as 

 supposed, that he may be the more sheltered from storms 

 and bad weather. 



Though we are told somewhat to the contrary, I have 

 reason to believe that elks are not in the habit of congre- 

 gating either during the winter or the summer. They would 

 seem to live much alone, or in separate families, for one often 

 meets with father and mother, and perhaps a fawn or two 



