46 BIG GAME OP NORTH AMERICA. 



The color of the Elk. is: Head and neck dark brown, the 

 head a shade lighter than the neck; sides, back, and thighs 

 cream-colored gray; under the belly, black; legs are seal- 

 brown; on tlie rump is a large spot of white that extends 

 down on either side of the tail, joining the white between 

 the legs. This white spot is bordered with black on the 

 lower edges. These shades, however, vary at different sea- 

 sons, and on different individuals. 



The Elk has a beautiful head, small and well-formed. 

 The antlers are cylindrical, with tines long and slender. 

 The pedicel, on which the antler rests, can be plainly seen 

 on the calf at five months of age. This pedicel never 

 appears through the skin in Elk of any age, and will vary 

 in height from one to three inches in Elk of different ages. 

 At one year of age, the antlers sprout from the base, and 

 at eighteen months of age we have a spike-buck, an incip- 

 ^ient bull Elk. These spikes sometimes grow to a length of 

 thirty inches before the spike-buck is two years old. The 

 spike-buck drops these horns, not as his elder brothers do, 

 in the last of December or early part of January, but in 

 March or April. He is proud of them, and after the old 

 bucks have shed their horns, does not fail to remind them 

 of the fact by goring them frequently. In traveling at 

 such times, he assumes the old buck' s place at the head of 

 the column; and should the band be attacked by Wolves or 

 Cougars, a circle is at once formed, with the spike-bucks 

 around the outer edge, and a Cougar or Wolf who makes 

 the acquaintance of the young warrior will remember the 

 introduction to the last day of his existence. 



In the summer of the second year, the antlers develop 

 two })oints, in the third three, in the fourth four, and in 

 the fifth five. After this, it is impossible to estimate accu- 

 rately the age of a bull Elk, as there is no further regular- 

 ity in the occurrence of points. In some instances, there 

 are more points on one antler than on the other. 



The older bulls usually shed their horns in the last 

 of December or the first half of January. When the time 

 comes to drop his horns, the bull leaves the herd, seeks a 



