XVI. 



ELK ANTLERS. 



WHEN one learns for the first time that the enormous, spreading 

 antlers worn by the males of the deer tribe are the product of a 

 single season's growth, and are thrown away to be renewed every twelve- 

 month, it seems wholly incredible ; but it is easy to explain, so that any 

 one may readily understand how it is possible. Let us take, as an exam- 

 ple, the broad head-gear of the elk, or wapiti of our north-west. He has 

 the greatest antlers of any of our deer, except, perhaps, the moose, whose 

 horns may sometimes be heavier. 



The elk stands as high as a medium-sized horse, to which it bears a 

 general resemblance, but it has the shapely head, prolonged, naked nose, 

 upright neck, trim shoulders, straight, slender body, muscular hams, and 

 short tail characteristic of the deer tribe. The ears are rather short, 

 pointed and mobile ; the eyes deep blue. The hair in summer is a rich 

 brown color, darkest on the neck, where it is almost heavy enough to be 

 called a mane, and yellowish brown or nearly white on the throat, breast, 

 and inside of the legs. As winter approaches the brown hair is shed, and 

 a denser growth appears, which hunters call his " blue coat." 



Elks are born in May and early June in some dense grove beside a 

 mountain stream, where the mother or cow-elk has hidden herself away 

 from the little herd of her companions. Going one day through an aspen 

 grove in the Seminole range, a spur of the Rocky Mountains, our party 

 roused an elk, which dashed away just in time to save its life from our 

 bullets and send us to bed that night without fresh venison. "We camped 

 close by, and after tea, while walking about the grove, stumbled upon 

 a little calf — baby elks are not called "fawns"— and carried it to our fire, 

 squealing lustily, where we tied it to a tent-pin. This calf's hair was of a 

 bright chestnut-brown color; its sides were marked with irregular lines of 

 round white spots, which would disappear at the first shedding of hair. 



Probably every copse along the foot of these mountains was the scene 

 of a similar retirement of mother and little one. When a fortnight old 



