37^ 



UNGULATES. 



Dimensions. 



UNDER SURFACE OF FOOT 

 OF ELK. 



sharply-pointed hoofs, very different in appearance from those of the reindeer ; 

 and the lateral hoofs are relatively large and loosely attached. In the male the 



hair is long, coarse, and somewhat brittle, and is elongated 

 into a slight mane on the neck, shoulders, and throat ; 

 while in colour it varies from very dark brown to yellowish 

 grey. The female is lighter coloured than the male during 

 the winter season. In both sexes the hair is softer and 

 finer in the summer than in the winter; and during the 

 later season an abundant supply of woolly under-fur is 

 developed. Young animals have also brighter-coloured 

 and sleeker coats than aged individuals ; and in the latter 

 the fading of the winter coat with the advance of spring is 

 much more noticeable than in the former. The fawns are 

 uniformly coloured like the adults. 



The height of the elk has been much 

 exaggerated, some writers asserting that the 

 male may stand as much as 8 feet at the withers. Mr. 

 Caton observes, however, that it is safe to say that it 

 may attain a height of 6 feet, or occasional^ rather more, 

 and we may probably put the extreme limits as not 

 exceeding 6^ feet. The weight of an average adult male 

 elk is given by the writer last cited as 700 lbs., but large specimens will reach 

 900 or 1000, and, it is said, even as much as 1200 lbs. 



Adult male elk, and occasionally the females, have a curious pendulous 

 appendage on the throat formed by a dilatation of the skin, and covered with long 

 and coarse blackish hairs. This appendage may vary in length from 4 to 10 

 inches, and is known to the American hunters as the bell ; its use is unknown. 



The elk has a distribution very nearly the same as that of the 

 reindeer, although it does not extend so far north, and is, indeed, 

 limited by the northern extension of trees, being essentially a forest animal. In 

 Europe, although now greatly diminished in numbers, it is found locally in 

 Scandinavia, Eastern Prussia, Lithuania, and parts of Russia, such as the neigh- 

 bourhood of Orenburg, the government forest near Moscow, and the districts 

 bordering the river Samara in Astrakhan. Thence it extends eastwards into the 

 subarctic portions of Siberia, although its extreme limits in this direction are not 

 fully ascertained. A few years ago an elk was shot in Galicia, which had 

 probably wandered from more northern latitudes. In the time of Pallas, elk were 

 also found on the northern slopes of the Caucasus ; while Caesar mentions them as 

 inhabiting the Black Forest. During the prehistoric period, their distribution 

 was still more extensive in Europe ; and their remains have been found in many 

 parts of England, the most southern point being Walthamstow in Essex. In the 

 still earlier deposits of the Norfolk forest-bed, the species was preceded by the 

 broad -fronted elk (A. latifrons). 



In North America the range of the elk appears to have extended originally 

 from about the 43rd to the 70th parallel of latitude, its northern limit being 

 marked by the southern border of the so-called barren grounds. Mr. Caton says 



Distribution. 



