MAMMALIA 271 



venison is perhaps the best of all the family especially at the time the 

 " velvet" (the soft covering of the newly formed horns) is shed; it is 

 better if allowed to hang a few days before it is eaten. 



The elk is particularly well adapted to domestication because 

 of its fine size, polygamous habits and ability to live on otherwise worth- 

 less land. It breeds as fast and requires less care than domestic cattle. 



PIG. 176. Rocky Mountain wapiti or elk, Cervus canadensis ; buck in fore- 

 ground, doe in background; after the moose the largest of our deer. (From Lantz, 

 Raising Deer and Other Large Game Animals in the United States.) 



It is already successfully raised at several places and could be raised 

 equally well in many other localities. If the laws of the state will not 

 allow them to be sold to advantage they could, in many places, be 

 raised in small numbers for home consumption. 



It is mainly in times of heavy snow that the elk have to be given 

 other food than that which they get for themselves. Alfalfa is perhaps 



