The Wapiti or Round- horned Elk 135 



extermination of this stately and beautiful animal, 

 the lordliest of the deer kind in the entire world. 



The wapiti, like the bison, and even more than 

 the whitetail deer, can thrive in widely varying 

 surroundings. It is at home among the high 

 mountains, in the deep forests, and on the tree- 

 less, level plains. It is rather omnivorous in its 

 tastes, browsing and grazing on all kinds of trees, 

 shrubs, and grasses. These traits, and its hardi- 

 hood, make it comparatively easy to perpetuate 

 in big parks and forest preserves in a semi-wild 

 condition ; and it has thriven in such preserves 

 and parks in many of the eastern states. As it 

 does not, by preference, dwell in such tangled 

 forests as are the delight of the moose and the 

 whitetail deer, it vanishes much quicker than 

 either when settlers appear in the land. In the 

 mountains and foot-hills its habitat is much the 

 same as that of the mule-deer, the two animals 

 being often found in the immediate neighbor- 

 hood of each other. In such places the superior 

 size and value of the wapiti put it at a disadvan- 

 tage in the keen struggle for life, and when the 

 rifle-bearing hunter appears upon the scene, it 

 vanishes long before its smaller kinsman. 



Moreover, the wapiti is undoubtedly subject to 

 queer freaks of panic stupidity, or what seems 

 like a mixture of tameness and of puzzled terror. 

 At these times a herd will remain almost motion- 



