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CHAPTER VIII 



THE SCANDINAVIAN ELK 

 BY SIR HENKY POTTINGER, BART. 



THE chase of the elk, one of the few grand wild sports still to 

 be found in Europe, was thought worthy of mention by very 

 old and distinguished writers, but their remarks on the subject 

 are perhaps not likely to be of much practical value to the 

 modern sportsman. The great Caesar is our authority for the 

 fact that the elk, having no joints to its legs and being there- 

 fore unable to lie down, is compelled to take its rest by leaning 

 against a tree. The cunning hunter, continues the noble 

 Roman, takes advantage of this peculiarity, and by sawing 

 most of the trees in a wood frequented by the ponderous beast 

 nearly through, brings about its downfall, when, from ina- 

 bility to rise, it becomes an easy victim. I have not yet tried 

 this method of hunting, which is corroborated by Pliny, when 

 writing of the elk 'in Scandinavia insula.' The celebrated 

 naturalist also observes that, owing to the monstrous protrusion 

 of its upper lip, the animal is compelled to feed backwards. 

 Other ancient writers concur in the statement that the elk 

 when pursued is liable to epileptic fits, but that he can oc- 

 casionally relieve himself from the malady by opening a vein 

 in his ear with his hind foot. I am inclined to believe, having 

 never myself seen an elk in a fit, that now-a-days the remedy 

 is invariably successful ; but I find that the author of a small 

 French book, entitled Nouveau voyage vers le Septentrion, and 

 published in 1 708, mentions that whilst hunting near Christiania 



