WESTERN WILD SPORTS. 



161 



row point ; the ears are large and rapidly movable ; the eyes 

 are full and dark ; the horns rise loftily from the front, with nu- 

 merous sharp-pointed branches, which are curved forwards, and 

 the head is sustained upon a neck at once slender, vigorous, and 

 graceful. The beauty of the male Elk is still farther heightened 

 by the long forward curling hair, which forms a sort of ruff or 

 beard, extending from the head toward the treast, where it grows 

 short and is but little different from the common covering. The 

 body of the Elk, though large, is finely proportioned ; the limbs 

 are small and apparently delicate, but are strong, sinewy, and 

 agile. The hair is of a bluish-gray color in autumn ; during 

 winter it continues of a dark gray, and at the approach of spring, 

 it assumes a reddish or bright brown color, which is permanent 

 throughout summer. 



" The croupe is of a pale yellowish-white or clay color, and 

 this color extends about the tail for six or seven inches, and is 

 almost universally found in both sexes. Thei'e is no very per- 

 ceptible difference of color between the male and female. 



" The female, however, does not participate in the ' branch- 

 ing honors' of the male, which are found to attain, in numerous 

 instances, a surprising magnitude. It is not uncommon to see 

 them of four and five feet in height, and it is said that they are 

 sometimes still higher. Specimens of the largest size may be 

 seen in the cabinets of the Philadelphia Museum, and of the 

 Lyceum of Natural History, New-York. These horns are said 

 to consist of three principal divisions : 1st, The brow-antlers, 

 sometimes called ' alters' by the hunters ; 2d, The two middle 

 prongs, named ' fighting horns ;' and 3d, The shaft, or proper 

 horns. The branches just mentioned are always placed on the 

 front, outside or anterior surface, never on the inner side of the 

 horns, a circumstance which has been indicated as strikingly dif- 

 ferent from the arrangement of the branches of the horns of the 

 common, or Virginia Deer, hereafter to be described. 



" The Elk sheds his horns about the end of February, or be- 

 ginning of March, and such is the rapidity with which the new 

 horns shoot forth, that in less than a month they are a foot in 

 H 



