NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK. 57 
NORTH AMERICAN DEER. 
Elk, Mule Deer, White-Tail, Caribou and Moose. 
The American members of the Deer Family will be found 
in the ranges situated on the hill west of the Wild-Fowl 
Pond, stretching from the Llama House northward to the 
Service Road. 
After several years of experiments, we must admit that to 
all the American members of the Deer Family save the wapiti 
white-tailed and mule deer, the climate of New York City is 
decidedly inimical, This densely humid and extremely sa- 
line atmosphere is about as deadly to the black-tail, caribou 
and moose as it is to the Eskimo; and thus far we have 
found it an absolute impossibility to maintain satisfactory 
herds of those species in the ranges available for them. In 
great tracts of forests, some of them might become acclima- 
tized; but, be that as it may, all experiments made thus far 
both here and in two of the great game preserves of New 
England, prove conclusively that black-tail deer, mule deer, 
caribou, moose, and also prong-horned antelope, are among 
the most difficult of all ruminants to acclimatize anywhere 
in the United States eastward of the great plains. 
Although the Zoological Society will continue its experi- 
ments with some of these preserve species, and will always 
strive to exhibit some of them, our original hopes regarding 
them have been abandoned. We are certain that the diffi- 
culty lies not in the food, but in climate conditions, that are 
beyond our control, and especially our very salty atmosphere. 
The American Elk, or Wapiti, (Cervus canadensis.)—Of 
all the numerous members of the Deer Family, this animal is 
second in size to the moose only; and in the autumn, when 
its pelage is bright and luxuriant, its sides well rounded, its 
massive antlers clean and held conspiculously aloft, the elk 
may justly be called the king of the Cervidaec. It is well 
that in the Yellowstone Park we have an unfailing supply 
of Elk, which bids fair to perpetuate this handsome species 
for another century. 
Our Elk Range might well stand for a mountain park, in 
which is set a natural lakelet of real value. In October, 
when the splendid groves of beech, oak, and maple along 
the eastern ridge put on all the glorious tints of autumn, 
and the big thicket of sumacs, ash, and haw on the northern 
hill fairly blaze with scarlet—then are the elk also at their 
