THE AMERICAN ELK 



121 



forehead, neck and shoulders, without its dimin- 

 ishing his energy in the least. 



Solitary bucks in small corrals are most dan- 

 gerous. Where deer run in a large herd, the 

 danger is much less; but if a herd-buck begins 

 to approach people with the slow stride of a 

 pugilist, lips and nose turned up, ears laid back, 

 and snorting defiantly, shut him up at once, or 

 saw off his antlers close to his head, before he 

 does mischief. 



locked, wild deer are much given to fighting 

 during the rutting season. It is to be remem- 

 bered, however, that male deer are in the habit 

 of playfully sparring with their horns, and it is 

 very likely that many a death-lock has been due 

 to a pushing-match rather than to deadly com- 

 bat. The antlers of our white-tailed and mule 

 deer are peculiarly adapted to the fatal inter- 

 locking that has caused many a fine buck to 

 perish miserably by slow starvation. In cap- 



Photographed by E. R. Sanborn, New York Zoological Park. 1903 



A MODEL AMERICAN ELK, IN OCTOBER. 



Fighting Among Deer. — Even among them- 

 selves, deer are murderous brutes. It is 

 quite a common thing for one buck to treach- 

 erously assassinate another ; and some are such 

 thorough degenerates they will murder their 

 own does and fawns. The largest and hand- 

 somest bucks are not always the best fight- 

 ers, for they often lack the activity and youth- 

 ful vigor which gives supremacy to a younger 

 animal. 



Judging by the number of pairs of deer that 

 have been found dead with their antlers tightly 



tivity, pushing-matches amongst deer are quite 

 common. 



The Round-Horned Deer. 



The American Elk, or Wapiti, 1 is as tall 

 as a horse, handsomely formed, luxuriantly 

 maned, carries its head proudly, and is crowned 

 by a pair of very imposing antlers. Even the 

 doe Elk is a handsome and stately creature ; and 



1 Cer'vus can-a-den'sis. In Europe, this animal 

 is called the Wapiti; and the European Moose is 

 called the "Elk." 



