THE SCANDINAVIAN ELK 127 



with antlers of almost precisely the same size and number of 

 points that are annually killed, there does appear to be some 

 method in the growth of the latter, and that it does seem only 

 reasonable that some accuracy of calculation may be attained 

 by those who have constant opportunities, if they will but 

 take the trouble, of verifying it. I fancy that it is only of late 

 years and since a small band of English sportsmen has devoted 

 itself to the regular annual pursuit of the elk in Scandinavia, 

 that the native hunter, the Norwegian at least, has been in- 

 duced by example to exhibit any interest in the question of 

 horns or to regard them as worthy of special attention : the 

 size of the body and the amount of meat have always been to 

 him of far greater importance. To this day I occasionally 

 hear Scandinavian Nimrods express much incredulous astonish- 

 ment at the fact that an Englishman has been known to spare 

 a well-grown bull with an insignificant trophy, or a big cow. 

 Quite recently, however, Norw^ay has been invaded by a large 

 number of German sportsmen also bent on the pursuit of the 

 elk, and from all accounts these gentlemen, keen and energetic 

 as they all undoubtedly are, are not, as a rule, prone to err on 

 the side of declining chances. May I then, without polemical 

 design, suggest it as probable that a bull elk attains its prime 

 between the ages of seven and twelve years, when, in the 

 natural course of events, the antlers will have from fourteen to 

 twenty-four points or thereabouts, and that to this general 

 computation there must be, from various causes, many excep- 

 tions? It is not too common to find the horns a perfect pair, 

 although they may be symmetrical in their general curves and 



veep ; one has frequently a point or tw^o more than its fellow^ 

 i have seen a single fine very massive head that had no pal- 

 mation whatever, and on each antler only four tines, but these 



vere of great length and thickness, and strongly resembled on 

 a smaller scale those of the wapiti. The owner of another re- 

 markable head, which I have not seen, describes it as being 



very powerful, with twenty-three points in all, in double rows 



on each horn. I find that among native hunters the belief is 



