' Far from the cultivated realm 



Where human labor fells the wood. 

 Cleaves the rich glebe and tills the soil, 



Incessant toiling for its food, 

 The great elk of the wilderness, 



Boon nature's noblest, fleetest child, 

 Since the creation hath possess'd 



And rang'd, untamable, the waste, 

 Cropt the sweet grasses of the wild, 



In savage freedom roam'd and rac'd." 



THE ELK. 



The American Elk, frequently called the Wapiti, is more handsome 

 and graceful than the moose, though it does not equal the latter in size. 

 In form the elk closely resembles the common deer, and in color it is of a 

 yellowish brown ; of a dark tinge in winter, and lighter in summer. The 

 antlers or horns are more upright than in the common deer, and are very 

 symmetrical. The range of the elk, which formerly extended over the 

 greater portion of the United States, is now restricted principally to the 

 far West. Beyond the Rocky Mountains, not many years ago, the elk 

 could be found in bands sometimes several himdred in number, but at the 

 present time it is rare to see a herd of more than fifty, even in favored 

 localities in Wyoming and Montana. The great National Yellowstone 

 Park has proved to be a haven of refuge for this variety of game, and it is 

 believed by careful observers that quite a large percentage of tffe elk now 

 roaming in the United States have their habitat in that natu/al /game pre- 

 serve. Mr. Hofer, an experienced guide and woodsmar 

 stone country, states that the elk migrate annually to quit 

 moving to the south and southwest to the warmer place^ 

 and returning to the park when the heavy snows are mell 

 Still hunting is the method commonl}' employed in ic. 

 though occasionally the animal is killed in open count 

 horseback. The bands of elk in the moinitainous coun! 

 highest hills, and on the plains they are to be found usually 

 near the streams, in or near the thickets of willows. '^'^''- 



Elk hunting is exciting sport, and if careful restrictive laws 

 are enforced to prevent the extermination of the species it may be 

 enjoyed within a limited area of country for many years to come. 



^^he Yellow- 



large extent, 



fate in autumn, 



in the spring. 



iwing the elk, 



hunters on 



y^quent the 



107 



