44 rnpTTLAR oFFirrATj riniDE. 



cN'ery year — which to many persons is almost beyond be- 

 lief. Any person who visits a zooloo^ical garden in mid- 

 summer will see that the old antlers have dropped oft" bodily, 

 just below the burr, and that new antlers, covered with hair, 

 soft, full of blood, and Avith club-like "points," have sprung 

 up like mushrooms in place of the old ones. In suppl.ying 

 the great drain on the system necessary to support this re- 

 nuirkable growth, the Elk grows thin, and the fear of hurt- 

 ing his tender young antlers makes him quite timid and in- 

 ofifensive. He is no longer the tyrant of the herd, and a con- 

 stant menace to his keepers. 



At this point it is not amiss to call attention to the differ- 

 ences between horns and antlers. 



A horn is a hollow sheath, growing over a bony core, and 

 except in the case of the prong-horned antelope, is never 

 shed. Horns are worn by both sexes of all bison, buffaloes, 

 cattle, antelope, sheep, and goats. 



An antler is of solid bone throughout, growing from the 

 skull ; it is shed every year close to the skull, and quickly 

 renewed. Usually antlei-s have several branches. They are 

 worn by nearly all male member.s of the Deer Family — moose, 

 elk, caribou, deer, etc., and also by the female caribou. The 

 prongs on an antler are no index of the wearer's age. Some 

 of the finest and most massive elk antlers have only twelve 

 or fourteen points. During August and September the hairy 

 covering, or "velvet," of new antlers is rubbed off against 

 trees and bushes. This period is quickly followed by the 

 mating season, during which the neck of the bull becomes 

 unusually large, and often the animal becomes dangerous. 



Although the Elk is essentially a timber-loving animal, it 

 also wandered far into the plains bordering the Rocky 

 Mountains on the east — until driven from them by man. 

 The ideal home of this animal is the timbered foothills af 

 our western mountains, up to 8,000 feet. Although once 

 found from Virginia and New York to Oregon, and from 

 northern Manitoba to the Gulf of Mexico, it is now numer- 

 ous only in and ad.jacent to the Yellowstone Park, in cen- 

 tral Colorado, where it is well protected, and in western 

 Manitoba. The number of Elk in the National Park is 

 variously estimated at from 10,000 head to a much larger 

 immber. 



In a wild state, the Elk feeds on grasses, weeds, and the 

 leaves and twigs of various trees and shrubs. Of all Amer- 

 ican deer, it is the most easy to acclimate and breed in 



