THE ELK OR MOOSE 91 



The cow Elk drops her young in spring ; she is more prolific than any 

 other equally large animal, frequently having twins. 



In winter, Moose are exposed to great danger from the attacks of 

 man and Wolves, as they cannot travel well on " crusted " or surface- 

 frozen snow, owing to their great weight, which causes them to break 

 through. To avoid as much as possible the necessity of travelling 

 about at this time, they "yard," as it is called; this means that one or 

 more animals select a sheltered piece of forest with plenty of their 

 favourite trees, and keep to it, their constant travelling over the same 

 ground beating down the snow and giving them a safe range safe, 

 that is to say, against the Wolf, which dares not face the great 

 Deer in a fair fight; but, of course, once a hunter finds the "yard," 

 the unfortunate inmates are more or less at his mercy. If wounded, 

 they do not die unavenged if they can help it, for an infuriated 

 Moose is one of the most dangerous of animals. At the beginning 

 of the new year the bull drops his antlers, and these are renewed by 

 autumn. 



So large a beast as this has, of course, always been greatly subject 

 to human persecution, which has exterminated it over much of its 

 range. In Europe it is now confined to Scandinavia, Northern Russia, 

 and East Prussia : in classical times it was widely spread in Europe, 

 and even inhabited Britain. Its equally large and far more beautiful 

 rival, the Giant Fallow-Deer, became extinct long before the dawn of 

 history, unless the unknown beast called the " Schelch " in the 

 " Nibelungen Lied," and mentioned as distinct from the other ancient 

 European big game, Aurochs, Bison, and Elk, was this animal. 



In America it still exists as far south as the northern parts of 

 New York, and is well known in Canada. It is, of course, greatly 

 esteemed both there and in Europe as a sporting animal, and its 

 meat is not to be despised. In former times it was trained as a sledge 

 animal in Scandinavia, and showed such speed that its use was pro- 

 hibited as facilitating the escape of criminals a measure which does 

 not say much for the police efficiency of the government of the 

 period : it might very well be tried again for use in the countries it 



