American Elk 



greed of the hunter. But over the miles and miles of country 

 which he formerly roamed at will his memory will be preserved 

 for all time in the names of towns, counties, rivers, lakes and 

 mountains. Any locality where elk were particularly abundant 

 or where perhaps the last one was killed has been christened in 

 honour of the noble beast, and apparently there is not a State 

 lying within the former range of the species that has not its 

 Elk county or Elk township. The name, like many another be- 

 stowed by our early settlers, is unfortunate, as the elk of the 

 Old World is practically identical with our moose, while the Ame- 

 rican elk is a true stag, having its counterpart in the red 

 deer of Europe. Wapiti, the Indian name, is distinctive and 

 preferable, but, of course, a change in a name so well established 

 is out of the question, and all we can do is to remember that 

 elk in America and Europe refers to very different animals. 



In parts of Quebec the elk may possibly still exist or, at any 

 rate did, not so many years ago and here are often found the cast-off 

 horns buried in moss and loam or washed from the bed of a 

 river. In northern Michigan and Wisconsin a few may still persist. 



In the Eastern States the elk seems to have lingered 

 longest in the wilds of central Pennsylvania and men are still 

 living who can remember the killing of the "last elk" of their 

 several localities about fifty years ago. 



The Rocky Mountains and ranges to the westward now con- 

 tain all the elk that are left and at the present rate of killing 

 their extermination would seem to be not far distant. 



Like many of the Cervidce, elk are gregarious and polygamous, 

 associating in moderate-sized herds, the strongest bull acting as 

 master of the cows and driving the other aspirants off by them- 

 selves until such time as they can prove their superiority and 

 acquire a herd of their own. 



At the pairing season frequent savage encounters take place 

 between the bulls, which charge one another with lowered heads in 

 the manner of all the deer tribe. Occasionally two individuals have 

 been found with their great branching antlers locked inextricably to- 

 gether or perhaps merely the antlers themselves are discovered, silent 

 witnesses of a tragedy of former years, ending in starvation or 

 an attack by wolves, the elk in their unfortunate predicament 

 being unable to save themselves from either one fate or the other. 

 " After the pairing season " writes Lydekker, "wapiti collect in 



32 



