160 



FRANK FOEESTER S FIELD SPORTS. 



" A reference to the synonymy we have prefixed to this article, 

 will amply suffice to show how great a degree of confusion has 

 hitherto existed upon this subject — a confusion rather increased 

 than diminished by those who have attempted its removal by 

 reconciling the discrepancies of books, instead of appealing to 

 the proper and infallible authority, nature. 



" Hearne we believe to be justly entitled to the credit of hav- 

 ing insisted upon the specific distinctness of this animal from the 

 Moose, by pointing out the error into which Pennant had fallen, 

 in stating the Waskesse, or Wewaskish, to be of the same species. 

 The description he gives of the Wewaskish, sufficiently proves 

 that it was our Elk he described, and the characters he enume- 

 rates satisfactorily establishes the specific differences between 

 this animal and the Moose. 



" Jefferson, in his valuable Notes on Virginia, without being 

 aware of Hearne's observations, proves very clearly that the 

 Elk of America ought to be regarded as identical neither with 

 the Moose nor Stag of Europe, and proposed for our animal 

 the name of Alces Americanus. Subsequently, Dr. E. H. Smith 

 published a very interesting paper in the New- York Medical 

 Repository, in which he described three individuals of this spe- 

 cies, and gave a still more complete enumeration of their dis- 

 tinctive characters and history. 



" It would be as unprofitable as irksome to enter more exten- 

 sively into the history of the different errors and changes respect- 

 ing the classification of this Deer. To us, it appears sufficient 

 to declare it to be now fully established that there is but one 

 species of American Elk, upon which all the names prefixed, 

 scientific and trivial, have been bestowed. That this species is 

 second in size to the Moose alone, and that in beauty of form, 

 grace and agility of movement, and other attributes of its kind, 

 it is not excelled by any Deer of the old or new world. 



" The size and appearance of the Elk are imposing; his air 

 denotes confidence of great strength, while his towering horns 

 exhibit weapons capable of doing much injury when offensively 

 employed. The head is beautifully formed, tapei'ing to a nar- 



