THE LIFE OF MAMMALS 
about the Yellowstone Park, in Jackson’s Hole, and along the 
Canadian Rockies, under legal protection. One or two fawns 
Domestic are born at a time, in late spring, in some secluded 
mare thicket in a plains country, but mountain mothers 
like to go up near timber line for their accouchement. The 
little one is brightly reddish and spotted with white, and for a 
few days simply lies close and quiet, giving forth no scent, and 
not stirring save at its mother’s signal. The doe will defend it 
bravely against ordinary enemies, but not against a man. I 
have picked one up and carried it to camp, and had the dam 
follow me like an old family cow; she got her calf again in a 
few moments, but took pains to hide it quickly in a new place. 
No one has sketched the life of the wapiti, and the methods and 
joy of its chase, so completely and delightfully as have Roose- 
velt and Van Dyke, — the former for the northern plains, and 
the latter as he knew the animal in California, — and I wish to 
quote briefly from Mr. Roosevelt *¥:— 
“Tn its life habits the wapiti differs somewhat from its smaller relatives. 
It is far more gregarious, and is highly polygamous. During the spring, 
while the bulls are growing their great antlers, and while the cows have 
very young calves, both bulls and’ cows live alone, each individual for itself. 
At such time each seeks the most secluded situation, often going very high 
up in the mountains. 
‘“‘As the horns begin to harden the bulls thrash the velvet off against 
quaking asp, or ash, or even young spruce, splintering and battering the 
“EIR” bushes and small trees. The cows and calves begin to as- 
Hunting. semble; the bulls seek them. But the bulls do not run the 
cows as among the smaller deer the bucks run the does. The time of the 
beginning of the rut varies in different places, but it usually takes place in 
September, about a month earlier than that of the deer in the same locality. 
The necks of the bulls swell and they challenge incessantly, for unlike the 
smaller deer they are very noisy. Their love and war calls, when heard at 
a little distance, amid the mountains, have a most musical sound. Fron- 
tiersmen usually speak of their call as ‘whistling,’ which is not a very appro- 
priate term. The call may be given in a treble or in a bass, but usually 
consists of two or three bars, first rising and then falling, followed by a 
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