MAMMALS OF PENNSYLVANIA AND NEW JERSEY. 3 1 



from the common deer) were driven down from the mountains into the vici-^ 

 nity of Philadelphia and killed in great numbers because of a great snow. 

 Such lowland invasions probably account for the place-names we have men- 

 tioned as well as for the remains of this animal in camp and village sites of the 

 aborigines on both sides of the Delaware as far south as Trenton. Not only 

 would the rigors of winter drive them from their mountain fastnesses, but the 

 increased persecutions from the starving wolves and of the Indians, and the 

 freezing of the Susquehanna and Delaware Rivers, would induce the stricken 

 creatures to scatter over areas hitherto unknown to them. It is likely that at 

 no time during man's existence in New Jersey was the wapiti a voluntary resi- 

 dent of that state even in the Kittatinny range, which is the natural continu- 

 ation of their ancient haunts in the Blue Ridge and in its northern section 

 was in easy reach of a hunted wapiti from the Pocono region seeking to 

 throw its pursuers off the scent in the waters of the Delaware. Only as a 

 straggler, therefore, can the wapiti be considered a member of the historic 

 fauna of New Jersey. It should be borne in mind, however, that the accounts 

 of earliest historians, coupled with our knowledge of the wapiti in the far west, 

 indicate that this species may have roamed at will in pre-Columbian times 

 over almost the entire region included in this paper. 



Regarding the habits and food of the wapiti it may be stated that they are 

 similar to those of the Virginia deer in most respects. They are, however, 

 more addicted to keeping in companies throughout the year and, like the 

 moose, "yard up" during the season of deep winter snows. The males cast 

 their horns in February and March and by the month of August they are 

 again renewed in all their perfection. They make a loud whistling snort 

 when alarmed, and during the rutting season the bucks utter a loud note of 

 defiance which Godman says resembles both the neighing of a stallion and 

 the bellowing of a bull. Caton says it sounds like the whistle of a locomotive. 

 The young females give birth in May or June to one fawn, the older ones 

 generally two, and rarely three. When wounded, the wapiti is more ready to 

 turn on its pursuers than a deer. In flight they pursue a straight course and 

 will sometimes outstrip the chase of the most enduring hunter and hounds for 

 two or three successive days. 



When deprived of their usual winter browse of elk grass and brake by deep 

 snow they subsist for months on the buds and branches of such trees as they 

 would not touch in summer, and when a crusted snow prevents them from 

 going outside their yards for water they do without it for a long period. 



Among the favorite trees which they seek to eat in summer is one called 

 by hunters the elkwood.* This they attack, not only devouring the leaves 



* Also called the moose tree. It is the Acer spicatum, a dwarf species of maple growing 

 about fifteen feet high in the forests. 



