CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 9. RUMINANTIA. 



561 



leading as it does into the deepest wilds and often over mountains and streams — is regarded as 

 a peculiarly exciting and inspiring kind of sport. 



Genns CERVUS : Cervus. — This includes a very large number of species, the greater part, 

 indeed, of the animals which go under the general name of Deer, and which are divided into 

 several genera by some naturalists. 



THE AMERICAN ELK, OR WAPITI. 



The American Elk or Wapiti, C. Canadensis — Elaphus Canadensis of De Kay — is a large 

 and noble species, resembling the red deer of Europe ; it has tall, round, branching horns, some- 

 times six feet high ; the color is yellowish-brown ; the tail short, the form stately, the air majes- 

 tic. Its length is seven to eight feet, its height four and a half to five. Its horns are shed in 

 February or March. This animal is common in the Northwestern States, and thence north to 

 Lake Winnipeg, the herds consisting of from fifty to one hundred. It is a good deal hunted by 

 the Indians, though the flesh is coarse; the skins are much prized. It has been partially domes- 

 ticated and breeds readily in confinement. 



The Stag or Red Deer, C. elaphus — the Cerf of the French ; Cervio of the Italians ; Hirtz 

 ot the Germans; — is The Deer par excellence of England in all works on "the noble art of ven- 

 erie," and in all allusions to the bold foresters of "merry old England." The male is called a hart 

 and the female a kind. The horns of the male are lofty and branching, the female being desti- 

 tute of these ornaments. In summer the color is yellowish-brown ; in winter it is reddish-brown. 

 The young fawns are of a rich yellowish-brown, dappled with white spots, and it is from their 

 ground color that dyers give the name oifaivn to a peculiar shade of color intermediate between 

 brown and yellow. The color deepens much with age, so that in winter the old stags are nearly 

 t black. The average height of the Stag is three feet and a half; the weight frOm one hundred 

 and fifty to three hundred pounds. This animal, which was once abundant .over the greater part 

 of Europe and Asia, like the Elk is now confined to the northern forests, and is nowhere common. 

 Formerly abundant in Great Britain, it is now only known in Scotland, where it is hunted with 

 hounds, and brought down with the rifle. It figures in all descriptions of the manners and cus- 



Vol. L— 71 



