452 PRACTICAL ZOOLOGY 



tect many of the game animals during certain seasons of the 

 year and in some cases for a period of years, so as to prevent 

 their extermination. 



The deer, including the elk, reindeer, or caribou, and moose, 

 are the most important of the big animals in America. Only 

 one of them, the reindeer, has been completely domesticated ; 

 other species, however, can be kept easily in parks or game pre- 

 serves, and the constant demand for their flesh (venison) has 

 suggested the possibility of rearing them for food. 



The Rocky Mountain elk or wapiti (Fig. 306) at one time 

 ranged over most of the United States, and ten million individ- 

 uals were probably present then. They have been rapidly 

 killed off, however, until now there are only a few outside of the 

 Yellowstone National Park and neighboring country. In sum- 

 mer the herds in this Park number about thirty thousand. Par- 

 tial provision for winter forage has been made by the government 

 within the Park, but the supply is not enough, and many of the 

 elk perish every winter. Elk meat is superior in flavor to most 

 venison, but our laws prevent its sale, and so no efforts are made 

 to rear these animals for market, although they can certainly 

 be bred successfully in captivity. 



The common Virginia or white-tail deer (Fig. 318) occurs 

 almost all over this country and is therefore adapted to various 

 habitats. It is claimed that there are within the United States 

 250,000,000 acres of land not suited to tillage or to the pasture 

 of horses, cattle, or sheepon which deer and elk could be profitably 

 reared. The chief obstacle to profitable propagation of deer in 

 the United States is the restrictive character of state laws govern- 

 ing the killing, sale, and transportation of game. Many of the 

 states, following precedent, lay down the broad rule that all the 

 game animals in the state, whether resident or migratory, are 

 the property of the state. A few states except game animals 

 that are " under private ownership legally acquired." A few 

 others encourage private ownership by providing a way in 

 which wild animals — deer and the like — may be captured for 



