RECORDS OF BIG GAME 



Skull and Antlers of Wale Elk. 

 From an Alaskan specimen in the possession of the Duke of Westminster, 



ELK or MOOSE (Alces machlis). 



The largest member of the deer tribe, distinguished by its ungainly 

 form, long limbs, broad, produced, and flabby muzzle (all of which, 

 except a small triangular patch below the nostrils, is covered with hair), 

 the presence of a pendulous hairj/ organ (the so-called " bell ") on the 

 throat of the males, and the form and position of the antlers in that 

 sex. These latter are set on the skull with their bases at right angles 

 to the middle line of the face, the beams having neither brow nor bez 

 tines, but expanding after a short distance into a broad palmation, 

 carrying a number of snags on the outer border ; in young elk each 

 antler is divided in a fork-like manner into a small front and a larger 

 hind portion. The main hoofs are long and pointed, and the lateral 

 pair large : there is a gland and tuft of hair both on the hock and 

 hind cannon-bone, the latter being situated high up. The tail is very 

 short. From birth to old age elk are uniformly coloured ; the general 

 tint of the hair, which is long, coarse, and somewhat brittle, varying 



