210 EUMINANTIA. 



apart, and weigh from fifty to sixty pounds. The snags or 

 branches sometimes amount to twenty-eight. The body of the 

 Elk is round and compact, supported by legs of disproportionate 

 length ; the hair is full and coarse, longest upon the head and 

 withers ; it is black at the tips, gray in the middle, and white at 

 the roots. The dress of summer is of a browner tint than that 

 of the winter. (See the figure above the Camelopard on the 

 Chart.) 



In its ungainly form and awkward movements, this animal ex- 

 hibits a strong contrast to the others of the same family. The 

 shoulders being rather higher than the croup, it does not bound 

 like the deer, nor gallop like the horse, but shuffles or ambles 

 along, its joints or hoofs cracking at every step. Like those of 

 the Rein Deer, the hoofs are broad and divided so that they di- 

 verge on pressing the ground, thus giving the animal a sort of 

 natural snow-shoes. When each part is brought smartly together 

 by the sudden raising of the limbs, the cracking noise above 

 mentioned is produced and may be heard at a considerable dis- 

 tance. When increasing its speed, the animal straddles his 

 hind legs to avoid treading on its fore heels, tossing about the 

 head and shoulders when breaking from a trot into a gallop. In 

 its progress, it holds up its nape so as to lay the horns horizon- 

 tally back, and prevent their entanglement among trees. The 

 Moose is a timorous and wary animal, and as its senses of hear- 

 ing and smell are acute, must be approached with great caution. 



When it notices the coming of the hunter, it at once endeav- 

 ors- to escape, trotting off with great rapidity; at this gait, it soon 

 leaves the hunter far in the rear, stepping with ease over fallen 

 timber of the largest size. When hard pressed by the hunters 

 wearing snow shoes, if it breaks into a gallop they soon overtake 

 it; though in the winter it may sink at every step, it still keeps 

 on its way, the sharp ice wounding its feet, and its lofty horns 

 becoming entangled in the branches of the forest as it passes 

 along. The trees are broken with ease, and wherever the 

 Moose runs, the hunter perceives it by the snapping off of 

 branches of trees as thick as a man's thigh with its horns. The 

 chase may last in this manner for a whole day, sometimes for 

 two or three days together; for the pursuers are often "not less 

 excited by famine than the pursued by fear." The poor animal 

 "at last quite tired and spent with loss of blood, sinks like a 

 ruined building, and makes the earth shake beneath his fall." 

 The flesh is highly esteemed ; the nose and tongue in particular 

 are thought to be great dainties. The Elk can be easily domes- 

 ticated, and has been used for draught. The male sometimes 



