272 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



skull and more erect antlers; the nasal bones are remarkably 

 broad and flattened, with a well-marked constriction in the 

 middle. 



Fifty years ago this elk was common in the Sacramento, 

 White, and Guadalupe Mountains east of the Rio Grande 

 River and in the Mogollon group of mountains west of it, in 

 southern New Mexico, as well as in the White Mountains of 

 Arizona. There are old records for the Datil and Gallina 

 Mountains of Socorro County, New Mexico, and a doubtful 

 record for the Manzano Mountains. At the present time this 

 race, with a restricted range in the mountains of southern 

 New Mexico and Arizona, is believed to be extinct (Bailey, 

 1931). 



Bailey has summarized the history of this deer. He surmises 

 that it was antlers of this race that Montezuma showed to the 

 followers of Cortez. That it was once common in southern 

 New Mexico is inferred from the statement published by J. A. 

 Allen in 1874 that a trapper and guide in the Rocky Mountain 

 region had met with droves of 2,000 individuals as far south 

 as the Mexican boundary. In the White Mountains and the 

 Blue Range of Arizona, "more particularly on the head of 

 Black River," according to D. B. Rudd, a forest ranger, they 

 were present in large bands in 1876 when his father moved to 

 that part of the country. "As late as 1890 elk could be found 

 but not so plentifully. Since the year 1895 I cannot find that 

 any have been seen. " Nevertheless, another ranger had seen 

 "bedding signs" of a small band between Black River and the 

 higher plateau of the Blue Range, about 1904, which seems to 

 be the latest report of them for that region. In the Mogollon 

 Mountains H. W. Henshaw found tracks of these elk in 1873, 

 and in 1882 Nelson heard reports of their presence near the 

 extreme headwaters of the Gila River. In 1886 he collected 

 specimens in the White Mountains of Arizona. Reports of the 

 forest rangers indicate that these elk became scarce in the 

 Mogollon Mountains about 1888, although up to that time 

 they seem not to have shown any alarming decline. Bailey 

 adduces a few instances of animals shot in the Mogollon Moun- 

 tains up to 1890, when a cow and a bull were killed. The last 

 record, however, seems to have been in 1894, when a fine male 

 was reported seen on Lily Mountain, north of the main peaks 

 of the Mogollons and tracks of three later in the same year. 



