218 THE DEER OF AMERICA. 



as compared witli tliose in my grounds, besides being very in- 

 ferior in size and very deficient in members. We may not account 

 for this marked effect by a want of food, for it was in the midst 

 of forests and shrubbery, which is its favorite aliment ; neither 

 could it have suffered from want of grasses, for Ave hear no 

 complaint that the numerous horses of a large expedition did not 

 find plenty for their subsistence while in the same country. We 

 may safely assume, however, that in that region vegetation was 

 as much retarded in the spring as was the growth of these antlers 

 in the summer; and this I think the most probable explanation of 

 their late growth, for everywhere the commencement of the growth 

 of the antler of the deer seems to be about the time when veg- 

 etation begins to shoot forth. 



I may say here, that I think the antlers of all the deer are not 

 as largely developed when they are confined in parks of even 

 lai'ge extent as when running wild. This may be partly attribu- 

 table to change of habit, but more probably to a want of that 

 selection of food which they find in the wild state. They suf- 

 fer most for the lack of an abundance of arboreous food, for they 

 seem to make it their first business to kill off all the shrubbery 

 within their reach. However, I have had some very fine antlers 

 grown in my grounds. The antler of the Elk continues to in- 

 crease in volume long after the body has attained its full size, and 

 in many cases, probably, through life. I have heard no sugges- 

 tion from any source that the antlers of the Elk decrease in size 

 after the animal has passed its full vigor, nor have I made any 

 observation to warrant such conclusion, as is said to be the case 

 with the moose. The largest antlers are not necessarily from the 

 largest animals. The largest ever grown in my grounds were on 

 a medium sized animal, and he was always subject to the control 

 of a larger buck with smaller antlers. Indeed, there were sev- 

 eral in the band with antlers larger than those on this monarch. 

 He is now a mounted specimen in the Roj'^al Museum in Chris- 

 tiana, Norway. 



After the first set of antlers, usually, a line drawn from the 

 seat of the antler to the tip will be in a line Avith the face, so 

 that when running through the bush with the nose thrown up so 

 as to bring the face in a horizontal position, the butts and the 

 tips of the antlers will be on the same level with the face. Then 

 all the tines are curved backwards, so that they cannot become 

 entangled in the brush. Still these immense antlers are a serious 

 impediment to their speed through dense thickets. Hence we 



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