DEER. 



375 



the caribou and of the wild reindeer of the Old World. The pairing-season of the 

 barren-ground caribou is, however, said to be in the winter; while that of the 

 woodland variety is in September. In the case of the latter, the antlers of the 

 bucks are shed in December, while those of the does do not fall until the spring. 

 The fawns are produced in May, and are either one or two in number. 



Owing to incessant pursuit, in season and out of season, the numbers of the 

 caribou have been greatly reduced in many districts ; but, in Newfoundland, these 

 animals are now protected by special laws. 



The Elk or Moose. 

 Genus Alces. 



The largest living representative of the Deer family is the somewhat ungainly- 

 looking animal known in Europe as the elk, and in North America as the moose 

 {Alces machlis). This fine animal differs from all other deer in the form and 

 setting-on of the antlers of the male ; and it is not improbable that these append- 

 ages have really no connection with those of the true deer, but were independently 

 acquired. 



In build, the elk is characterised by the length of its limbs, its short neck, 

 very long and napping ears, and the great length and narrowness of the head, 

 which terminates in a broad overhanging muzzle, completely covered with short 

 fine hair, save for a small triangular spot just below the nostrils. The extremity 

 of the muzzle is flexible, and the eyes are small and sunken. The antlers, instead 

 of emerging from the forehead at an acute angle with its middle line and inclining 

 forwards, as is the case with all living representatives of the genus Cervus, project 

 on either side at right angles to the middle line of the forehead, and in the same 

 plane as its surface. Their basal portion consists of a short, cylindrical beam, 

 without any tine, and beyond this beam they expand into an enormous basin-like 

 palmation. In young animals, and more especially in the Swedish elk, the 

 antlers have their palmated portion divided into a smaller anterior and a larger 

 posterior moiety; but in the adult of the American form these two coalesce 

 into a single palmation, elongated from back to front, and containing a number 

 of short and irregular snags on its outer edge. The antlers of fine specimens 

 may weigh as much as 60 lbs. ; and in a head in the possession of Mr. Otho Shaw 

 the antlers have a span of 65 inches, a length along the palmation of 41 inches, 

 and a width across the same of 24 inches, but a span of <i<> inches is on record. 

 The antlers do not attain their full dimensions till the animal has attained its 

 ninth year. 



The skull of the elk differs from that of other deer in the extreme shortness 

 of the nasal bones, and the consequently very large size of the cavity of the nose. 

 The upper molar teeth have very low and broad crowns. The tail is so short that 

 it is scarcely more than a rudiment. 



The elk carries its short neck nearly horizontally, and therefore somewhat 

 lower than the elevated withers ; and it is this feature which so largely contributes 

 to the ungainly and ugly appearance of the animal. The feet have long and 



