MOOSE OR ELK. 347 



sixty-six Elk were killed, this being the largest quantity 

 known to have been killed in Scandinavia. The Elk is 

 said not to be shy in Sweden, and to approach farms, 

 and play with cattle and horses, and they are also said 

 not to call to each other as they do in America. Many 

 of the Elk-forests in Norway belong to the Crown. 



In America it is pursued by packs of wolves, who 

 drive it over precipices. The wolves ilien descend and 

 devour the carcase ; but in winter-time the Moose make 

 spaces in the snow% called Elk-yards, which they tread 

 down, and are thus able to move about with freedom, 

 and defend themselves easily from the wolves. 



Its flesh is excellent eating, preferable to that of all 

 other Deer, In Norway and Sweden, the carcase is the 

 property of the man on whose land the animal is killed, 

 the sportsman reserving the head, and sometimes the 

 skin, for himself {The Field). 



A few Elk heads with horns are imported annuall}^ 

 and realize from £12 to i£16. The hide is very large 

 and valuable, and makes excellent leather. A few hun- 

 dred skins are imported from Russia from time to time. 

 In 1890, 910 skins were offered in public sales in London. 

 The Hudson's Bay Company at one time purchased 

 these for the Indians. In Alaska the Indians use these 

 skins for their tents or lodges, which are usually made 

 double to exclude the piercing cold of these regions. 



In an old work on America, it is stated that the 

 Moose was abundant at one time in the State of New 

 York. 



(Page 172) : " Towards the South of New York are many 

 Buffles, Beasts which (according to Erasmus Stella) are 

 betwixt a Horse and a Stag ; though they are of a strong 

 Constitution, yet they die of the smallest wound, and are 

 subject to the Falling-sickness. They have broad branchy 



