THE WAPITI OR ELK 47 



largest moose, but is far handsomer. He has, in fact, 

 all the grace and beauty of the common deer, while 

 the moose is positively ugly, excepting possibly to those 

 who see more beauty in the pug and bull-dog than in 

 the thoroughbred setters and pointers. The horns of 

 the elk are round, wide-branching, and symmetrical, like 

 those of the deer. They are the most magnificent 

 trophy of the chase. The color of the elk is yellowish 

 brown. The head, neck, legs, and under parts are a 

 rich burnt umber. The rump is yellowish white, 

 bordered by dark brown. The dark brown hair on 

 the neck is coarse and very long. 



The elk has a valuable hide, which, as Grinnell says, 

 "has a commercial value which makes it sousfht after 

 by those butchers of the plains called 'skin-hunters.'" 

 The Indians prized the teeth of the elk and used them 

 as ornaments. 



Like the common Virginia deer, the elk occupied a 

 wide range throughout the United States from Canada 

 and Labrador to northern Mexico. Like the bison, 

 they could not stand civilization (that kind, at least, 

 that killed every large animal on sight in order to try a 

 gun or bait a trap for a bear), and retreated from the 

 open country to secluded places in the woods and moun- 

 tains, and soon disappeared entirely to the eastward of 

 the Mississippi. It seems hard to realize to-day that 

 these magnificent animals were to be seen in large 

 bands from the Great Lakes to Kentucky and Ten- 

 nessee, almost within the lifetime of old hunters. 



Dr. C. Hart Merriam's map shows the range of the 

 elk in 1900 to be the Rocky Mountain region, from 

 Alberta, south through Montana and Idaho, to the 



