STRATEGY VERSUS STRENGTH. 



MONG the deer tribe, no nobler member is known at the present day to 

 naturalists, than the great Wapiti of North America. Although not so 

 large as his relative the Elk, or Moose (as it is called respectively in the 

 old and new world), it is a more graceful animal, and is possessed of far greater 

 symmetry of form. Splendid is the appearance of the noble buck when he steps 

 out upon the open prairie, from the lair where he has passed the night, with 

 his coat glistening from the numerous dew-drops which he has brushed off the 

 bushes. The graceful head is held high aloft, and the many-tined antlers branch 

 backward over the shoulders. The ears are cast forward to catch the slightest 

 sound, while the curling upper lip, and impatient stamp of the fore-foot, indicate 

 the existence of that fierce temper which, when aroused, makes him so formidable 

 an adversary. 



In the autumn, in the pride of his strength, he fears no enemy ; and in the 

 company of his wives,- who look to him for the protection which he is ever ready 

 to afford, passes the hours safe from the attacks of those animals who at other 

 seasons make him their prey. In the deep snow of winter he can neither fly, nor 

 oppose a successful resistance to his foes that set upon him in troops ; and in the 

 spring, when thin and feeble from the want of necessary pasturage, and deprived 

 of his horns that drop off during the early months of the year, he is but a semblance 

 of his former self, and can make only a feeble defence against the most insignifi- 



