538 UNGULATA. 



parturition, and giving suck, divert the nourishing fluids from the head 

 and concentrate them in other organs, and this is the physiological cause 

 which deprives the weaker sex of antlers. 



The modes of life of the Cervidcs are as different as their dwelling- 

 places. Some live, like chamois, on the rocks, some hide themselves in 

 the thick forests, some frequent arid steppes, others, swamps and mo- 

 rasses. They are all social animals, many kinds forming large herds. 

 During the summer the males usually leave the herds, and may often 

 be seen wandering about together. At other times, they are deadly 

 foes, and terrible combats ensue. The female has one or two young 

 ones annually ; no prettier group of animals can be seen than a hind 

 and her fawns, with their large, soft, innocent eyes, and graceful move- 

 ments. But neither the majestic appearance of the male, with his 

 branching antlers, nor the tenderness of the female, have saved the 

 deer from the fate which attends all animals that man cannot enslave ! 

 Their presence cannot be reconciled with modern agriculture. In 

 America they are rapidly becoming scarcer as the country is filled up, 

 and in Europe they are merely preserved, some species for sport, some 

 for ornament, otherwise they would long ago have disappeared. 



If we include the Musk-deer, and an allied genus lately discovered in 

 China, the family Cervidce must be distributed in eight genera, most of 

 which contain only one species. 



Nearly all the members of this family are remarkable for the elegance 

 of their shape, the dignity of their attitudes, the grace and vivacity of 

 their movements, the slenderness of their limbs, and the sustained rapid- 

 ity of their flight. They have a very short tail ; moderately sized and 

 pointed ears ; their nostrils are generally situated in a muzzle, and their 

 eye is clear and full of gentleness. In most of the species there is, below 

 the internal angle of the eye, a small depression, called a tear-pit, which 

 is nothing but a sort of gland, secreting a peculiar fluid. This gland is 

 not, as might be supposed from the name, the place from which the tears 

 proceed. 



GENUS ALCES. 



The Elk or Moose ranges all over Northern Europe and Asia as 

 far north as East Prussia, the Caucasus, and North China, and over 

 Arctic America to Maine on the East, and British Columbia on the West. 

 Wallace assigns to the genus only one species ; adding that the American 



