50 THE DEER FAMILY 



hunters wanting the hides or teeth — the former have 

 little value, but the two small tusks called the ivo- 

 ries, found in the upper jaw, have, by a strange perver- 

 sion and without the approval of its officers, become 

 fashionable as a badge among some of the members of a 

 well-known society. 



So, he says, " many a noble beast has died in the snow 

 leaving head, hide, and carcass to rot untouched, to fur- 

 nish a foolish ornament to some fat and worthy club- 

 man who never saw forest, mountain, or camp-fire, and 

 is so ignorant of the lore of his own fraternity as 

 not to know the difference between the great prehis- 

 toric Irish elk, from which it derives its name, and the 

 American wapiti, which is technically no elk at all."* 



Van Dyke thinks the elk is now probably the 

 hardest game animal to secure by any means of 

 hunting, but I am of the opinion that the common 

 white-tail is as difficult, if not more so. Van Dyke is 

 no doubt right if he refers to the elk of the Pacific 

 Coast forests, but there are places in the Rocky 

 Mountains, especially near the park, where the chances 

 of getting a good shot are better. 



When the elk were abundant in the open country in 

 California, the ranchmen used to take them with the 

 lasso, but there as elsewhere the elk retreated before 

 civilization to the almost inaccessible forests. 



Elk feed upon grass and weeds and the leaves and 

 tender branches of trees. They thrive well upon either 

 diet. Caton says a considerable portion of his daily 

 food he desires to be arboreous, yet, if deprived of it, he 

 will keep in good condition on herbaceous food alone. 



* New York State Forest, Fish and Game Report. 



