144 The North American Cervidce. 



The Elk (Cervus Canadensis, Erxleben). 



The elk, or, as it is sometimes called, the wapiti, is a near rela- 

 tive of the red deer of Europe, but is a much larger animal. At 

 the withers it measures about five feet in height, being thus about 

 as tall as a horse. The females are somewhat smaller. The shape 

 of the elk is much like that of the common deer, being graceful, 

 and having none of the coarseness and awkwardness of the moose 

 and caribou. The head is small and finely formed, the legs 

 slender and delicate, and the whole shape strong, yet elegant. 

 During the greater portion of the year the color of the elk is a 

 yellowish brown, of a somewhat varying shade, the head, neck, 

 legs, and belly being a dark wood brown. I have sometimes killed 

 specimens in autumn so pale that they might fairly be called yellow, 

 and have seen others in the same band which were almost brown. 

 At the approach of winter, the coat becomes darker throughout. 

 On the rump, extending up on the back above the tail, and also 

 down on the inner side of the legs, is a patch of yellowish white, 

 bordered by a stripe of dark brown or black. The tail is 

 extremely short, and is clothed with hair only upon the upper 

 surface and sides. The hair upon the neck is always much longer 

 and coarser than that on the body, and in winter increases in 

 length so as to become really a mane. The elk is provided with 

 quite a heavy coat of short, close wool, which is, however, con- 

 cealed by the hair, and is only to be observed in spring, when the 

 pelage is shed. The horns of this species, which are only 

 borne by the males, are long, cylindrical, and branching, and are 

 much more nearly straight in the beam than those of any other 

 North American deer. They are usually very symmetrical — though 

 abnormal forms are sometimes seen — and bear on each beam 

 five or more tines, directed forward, inward^ and upward. The antler 

 of the bull elk in his second year is a straight spike from ten to 

 eighteen inches long, which is usually bifurcated. 



The elk was formerly distributed over the whole of temperate 

 North America, its range having been even more extended than that 

 of the buffalo, and almost as wide as the Virginia deer's. The ad- 

 vance of the settlements has, however, caused its extinction throughout 



