CHAPTER XXIV 



THE WAPITI (CERVUS CANADENSIS) 



I HAVE already advanced the opinion that this superb species of 

 deer is nothing more than the Cervus elaphus, or red-deer of 

 Europe and Northern Asia, upon a larger scale ; it exceeds them 

 in a wonderful degree, not only in stature, but in the immense size 

 of the antlers. A fine stag, when about ten or twelve years old, 

 is a magnificent sight to any person who takes a pleasure in the 

 study of wild animals. The colour is similar to that of the red- 

 deer, but the rump is rather a lighter brown. I have never 

 actually weighed or measured a wapiti, but from my experience in 

 the exact weight of other deer of various species, I should say that 

 the live weight would be from 900 to 1000 Ibs. ; the same animal 

 would be 14^ hands in shoulder height. It is found throughout 

 North America, but, like other game, it has been so hunted that 

 it has almost disappeared from localities where formerly it was 

 plentiful, as neither sex has been spared in the warfare of 

 extermination. 



This splendid deer was at one time numerous in the Sacramento 

 valley, not far from the city of San Francisco, but it is now an 

 animal of the past, although the town is hardly forty years old. 

 Southern California affords every facility for the hunter, owing to 

 the mildness of its climate, which enables him t<3 shoot throughout 

 all seasons, therefore the game has no rest. The wapiti is departed 

 towards the north, where it seeks the shelter of the uninhabited 

 wilderness, far away from the dwellings or pursuits of man. 



Many persons, in their descriptions of game, forget the great 

 distances that animals will travel when once disturbed. Accounts 

 have been given to me by persons well accustomed to wild sports, 

 who, having had the good fortune to be the first upon fresh 

 ground, have seen an enormous amount of game. They have 

 described this as impossible to destroy; "no matter how many 



