380 UNGULATES. 



Mr. Ward, who believes that the male is never very far away from his consort. 

 Mr. Lockhart says that when the fawns are very young and helpless, " the mother 

 in their defence will even attack man. At such times her appearance reminds one 

 forcibly of a vicious horse. She raises her head, throws back her ears upon her 

 neck, and sniffs or blows like a horse ; then she bounds towards her enemy, 

 striking the ground with her fore-feet, and her eyes glittering with rage." 



The favourite pace of the elk when in rapid motion is a long swinging trot ; 

 and it is said that so long as the animal keeps to this pace it cannot be overtaken 

 by any ordinary horse. If, however, it can be forced into a gallop, the elk soon 

 becomes blown, and can then be readily ridden down. 



We have already alluded to the ungainly appearance of the elk ; and this un- 



gainliness is certainly most strongly marked in specimens exhibited alive in 



menageries or mounted in museums. Mr. Ward states, however, that when seen 



among his native forests no one can fail to be impressed with the majesty and 



grandeur of the male elk in all the glory of his spreading antlers. 



In Sweden and Norway elk are either hunted by being driven or 

 Hunting. i . 



stalked. In the autumn of 1885 the elk in the forest of Huneberg, 



which had been preserved for thirty-five years, were hunted by a royal party, 

 when fifty-one head were shot; and in 1888 upwards of sixty-six were killed 

 in the same forest. In America there are now three legitimate methods of elk- 

 hunting, namely, stalking or still-hunting, fire-hunting, and calling ; the wholesale 

 slaughter of the animals when imprisoned in their yards by the snows of winter 

 having fortunately been prohibited by the legislature. In the " Far West," the 

 best season for elk-hunting is during the months of October and November ; the 

 first snowfalls occurring in the mountains during the latter month, and the males 

 being then incessantly calling or fighting with their fellows. To be successful in 

 elk-stalking requires the aid of an experienced Indian guide, as very few men of 

 European descent can attain that marvellous skill in tracking which appears to 

 come naturally to the Indian. 



It appears to be only in the north-eastern districts that the practice of calling 

 with a birch-bark pipe is followed, as the custom is said to be quite unknown in 

 the Rocky Mountains. In regard to the mode of procedure, Mr. Ward says thai 

 " the Indian, having selected a favourable position for his purpose, generally on the 

 margin of a lake, heath, or bog, where he can readily conceal himself, puts his 

 birchen trumpet to his mouth, and gives the call of the cow moose in a manner so 

 startling and truthful that only the educated ear of an Indian could detect the 

 counterfeit. If the call is successful, presently the responsive bull moose is heard 

 crashing through the forest, uttering his blood-curdling bellow or roar, and rattling 

 his antlers against the trees in challenge to all rivals." In other districts the call 

 of the male is imitated by drawing the shoulder-bone of a moose against the dry 

 bark of a young tree, and any male that may be in the neighbourhood advances to 

 answer the challenge of the supposed rival. In the Rocky Mountains the male 

 moose instead of uttering the bellowing call mentioned above, only gives vent to a 

 loud and prolonged kind of whistle, while the female is completely silent. 



Fire-hunting, or hunting by torchlight, is practised, says Mr. Ward, by ex- 

 hibiting a bright light, formed by burning bunches of birch-bark in places known 



