216 THE DEER OF AMERICA. 
Five feet is the extreme length of the antler of the Elk, of 
which I have any authentic account. These are now in the col- 
lection of the late Mr. W. F. Parker, of West Meriden, Conn. 
On the right antler the sur-royal tine is bifurcated, the two 
points of which are of about equal lengths. Around the burrs 
they are thirteen inches, between the burrs and the brow-tines 
the circumference of the beam is ten and one half inches. The 
right antler presents eight, and the left six points. These ant- 
lers are as remarkable for their symmetrical and elegant form 
and graceful curvatures as for their extraordinary size. 
The type of the antler is established when the animal is in his 
third year, that is, with his second antlers. If these antlers are 
Triplet Antlers from a European Red Deer. 
remarkably large, or remarkably broad or spreading or the re- 
verse, the same characteristics may, with confidence, be expected 
in all the antlers subsequently grown on that animal. 
With many other interesting views, Dr. Hayden, U. 8. Geol- 
ogist, presented me with the photograph, by Jackson, of an Elk 
killed on the 28th of August, 1871, at an altitude of about 10,000 
feet above the sea, on the divide between the Yellowstone Lake 
and the head waters of the East Fork of the Yellowstone River, 
which is shown in the illustration. Both these antlers show re- 
markable imperfections in their growth, which. may, no doubt, be 
attributed to some injury received in their early stages. This 
Elk was two years old, or in his third year’s growth with his second 
