THE WAPITI (Cerous Canadensis}. 



BY WAH-BAH-MI-MI. 



ROWNED king of hill and woodland green ! 



With horns branching wide, - 

 In majesty he bounds along, 



Peerless in antler'd pride ! 

 He stands in beauty all alone, 



"The monarch of the glen " 

 A giant, dwarfing into naught 



The lordliest stag of ten. 



The Elk of Scandinavia's hills, 



His congener, the Moose, 

 The graceful red Virginia Deer, 



The Sambur and the Ruse, 

 The gentle, smooth-horned Caribou, 



The Reindeer, tame or free, 

 The Fallow, nor the Axis-buck, 



Can match the Wapiti ! 



The springing Black-tail of the wood, 



The White-tail of the plain, 

 The Mule-Deer and tall forest stag, 



May flaunt their forms in vain 

 Rusa, Tarandus, Rusintx, 



Alces and Rangifer, 

 Sink into insignificance 



Before this conqueror. 



On Ottawa's shores he roamed of old, 



Before the white man came, 

 To cut the shadowy forests down, 



And frighten back the game. 

 He's going, like the Indian race, 



Toward the setting sun, 

 And yet he finds no resting-place 



From the hunter's deadly gun. 



(71) 



