ELK 387 



woods, but rain, snow, and fog keep them among the pines. The males, when shedding 

 their antlers, seek open spots apart from the females, and in hot weather take to 

 marshy ground where they cover themselves with mud for protection against 

 flies. In September and October elk repair to winter-quarters in the dense 

 forests for shelter from the cold, but their haunts are chanoed much sooner than 

 those of other deer when there is not sufficient food or quiet. They cannot exist 

 without water, or, as a substitute, snow licked from the ground. The food, 

 according to season, consists of buds, young sprigs, leaves, bushes — principally 

 willow — and bark, and grass. In February and March elk strip the bark off firs, 

 and later on, in spring, that of soft-wooded deciduous trees. In winter they live 

 principally on leaf-buds, in spring on all kinds of grass, especially the floating- 

 leaves of young reeds. On account of its long legs and short neck, the elk has 

 much difficulty in grazing on short grass, and is obliged to lower its fore-quarters 

 considerably, or even to kneel down. Besides cornfields, in which it does more 

 damage by trampling the corn than by grazing, the elk visits fields of hemp, 

 and by preference those of peas and buckwheat. Heather, black alder, and whortle- 

 berry bushes form its food in times of want ; and cabbage and cherry-trees tempt 

 it to enter gardens in autumn. In the woods, by stretching its head as high as 

 possible up young trees, it bends down the top with its neck, breaks the crown, 

 and eats the twigs ; by which process the outer sides of the jaws and part of the 

 neck are denuded of hair. Sometimes, however, an elk will press down young 

 stems with the bare part of its muzzle. In search of food an elk w T anders from 

 its favourite haunt, which it leaves for ever when disturbed by dogs or beasts-of- 

 prey. When in safety it feeds both by day and by night ; but generally only before 

 sunrise and after sunset, spending the rest of its time in the thickets or the open. 

 On finishing its meal, it lies down in the same manner as a red deer, and rests and 

 ruminates in much the same way as cattle. 



Elk are in the main sociable and peaceable animals during most of the year, 

 the adults of both sexes, as well as the calves, grazing together. After the 

 rutting-season and the birth of the young, the family generally consists of an old 

 stag, two hinds, two younger deer, and two calves. The young leave the mother 

 before the pairing season, and the young stags remain apart till that season, which 

 commences at different times in different countries. In East Prussia and Lithuania 

 elk pair at the end of August or September, in Asiatic Russia in September and 

 October; the calves being born forty weeks later. Their habits at this time 

 much resemble those of red deer. Vanquished stags, with no females, become 

 affected with a sort of madness, which makes them wander about, and even find 

 their way to inhabited places, while they become much thinner than the others. 

 During rutting-time the males utter a short feeble call, which has been compared 

 to the voice of a consumptive man. At other times they are silent. The females 

 retire to isolated marshes to give birth to their calves — generally two in number ; 

 these are protected by their parent, and if separated from her will follow human 

 beings, from whom they are only driven off with great trouble. 



The reindeer (Ranaifer tarandus), which is the deer of the north. 



Reindeer. . . 



differs from all the rest of its tribe by the female carrying antlers, 

 although these are smaller than those of the male. The shape and setting-on of 



