204 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE. 



same round his wrists. They approach the herd by degrees, 

 raising their legs very slowly, but setting them down somewhat 

 suddenly, after the manner of a deer, and always taking care 

 to lift their right or left feet simultaneously. If any of the 

 herd leave off feeding to gaze upon this extraordinary phe- 

 nomenon, it instantly stops, and the head begins to play its 

 part by licking its shoulders, and performing other necessary 

 movements. In this way the hunters attain the very centre 

 of the herd without exciting suspicion, and have leisure to 

 single out the fattest. The hindmost man then pushes for- 

 ward his comrade's gun, the head is dropped, and they both 

 fire nearly at the same instant.'' 



The Moose The Moose or Elk is the largest of the Deer 

 or Elk. kind, and often attains to and even exceeds the 

 size and bulk of the largest horses. He is less graceful 

 than other members of his family, having a short thick neck, 

 necessary perhaps to sustain his huge antlers, which some- 

 times reach five feet in length and weigh as much as sixty 

 pounds. He escapes the torment of insects by taking to the 

 water, in which he is an expert swimmer. Like the other 

 animals of the Deer kind he sheds his horns annually. Year 

 by year these huge growths increase in breadth and in the 

 number of branches they bear, imtil there are sometimes as 

 many as twenty on each horn. He is docile and easily 

 tamed, and has been broken to run in harness. The Elk 

 occupies much the same geographical area as the reindeer, 

 though not travelling so far north. 



The FaUow The Fallow Deer {Dama vulgaris) is smaller 

 Deer and the than the stag, but similar to it in colour, form, 



Hoebuok. g^^ habit. It is this species which is domesti- 

 cated and kept in the parks of the wealthy in England. 

 Fallow Deer often quarrel among themselves over rights of 

 pasturage, the herd dividing into two and engaging in a pitched 

 battle for the possession of the disputed land. The Roebuck 

 is smaller than the Fallow Deer, his height being about two 



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