122 



OEDERS OF MAMMALS— HOOFED ANIMALS 



from the second week after its birth, the fawn 

 steps about with the air of a game-cock. If you 

 will observe a seven-year-old male Elk in October 

 or November, when the modelling of his form is 

 handsomest, his pelage long, bright and immacu- 

 late, his neck swollen with pride, and his fine new 

 antlers ready for admiration or for battle, I think 

 you will say, "This is the king of the Cervidae !" 



Even the moose, giant though he be, is not 

 a creature of regal presence, like the Elk. Al- 

 though the latter is a large and heavy animal, it 

 has the small and shapely legs and hoofs of a 

 thoroughbred. It is strictly a creature for solid 

 ground, and while very fond of bathing in ponds 

 during hot weather, it avoids swamps and low 

 situations. 



It is both a grazing and browsing animal. Al- 

 though up to twenty-five years ago it often ranged 

 far out into the western edge of the Great 

 Plains, and loves to frequent mountain parks, it 

 is also a forest animal. Originally, its range 

 coincided to a remarkable extent with that of 

 the buffalo, covering fully three-fourths of the 

 United States, from the Adirondacks and the 

 eastern foothills of the AUeghenies to California 

 and Vancouver Island. It was not found, how- 

 ever, on the Great Plains north of the Saskatche- 

 wan. 



In summer it ascends the Rocky Mountains 

 to the very crest of the Continental Divide, 1 1,000 

 feet above the sea. The species reaches its high- 

 est physical development on the backbone of 

 the continent, between northwestern Wyoming 

 and southern Colorado. 



From nineteen-twentieths of its original range, 

 this grand animal has been exterminated. To- 

 day it is abundant in one locality only, the Yel- 

 lowstone National Park and the country imme- 

 diately surrounding it, where about 20,000 Elk 

 find a safe retreat. 



Every winter the Elk herds of the Yellowstone 

 Park migrate southward to feed in the sheltered 

 valleys of Jackson Hole. During these migra- 

 tions, which usually are made through deep 

 snow, Mr. S. N. Leek and others have made 

 many fine photographs of the herds. One of 

 Mr. Leek's striking pictures is reproduced on 

 the opposite page. 



Elk are found in small numbers in the Olympic 

 Mountains of Washington, in Oregon, sparingly 

 in Colorado, western Montana and Idaho, in one 



small area of Manitoba, and at one point in south 

 central Cahfornia. On Vancouver Island the 

 species is now extinct. 



It is probable that within a few years the Elk 

 will disappear from all the localities mentioned 

 save the Yellowstone Park, for in the other 

 wild and thinly settled regions which it inhabits 

 to-day, the rtieasures for its protection from il- 

 legal slaughter are by no means adequate. Some 

 Americans who go hunting — I will not call them 

 sportsmen — are so greedy, so lawless and so 

 wasteful of animal life, that we frequently hear 

 accounts of Elk slaughter which are enough to 

 disgust all decent men. 



Fortunately, Elk are easily bred in confinement, 

 and during the last twenty years many good herds 

 have been established in the great private game 

 preserves that are scattered from New Hamp- 

 shire and Massachusetts to Minnesota. In ad- 

 dition to these, there are many smaller herds in 

 small private parks. Nearly every city north 

 of the Potomac has a herd of Elk in one of its 

 parks, and other hardy native animals in an estab- 

 lishment known either as a "zoo," a zoological 

 garden, or a zoological park. Thanks to this 

 constantly increasing public demand for living 

 collections of wild animals, the American Elk 

 and buffalo are now familiar objects to the chil- 

 dren of at least twenty American cities. 



The Elk's Calendar in the New York 

 Zoological Park. 



Jan. 1. Pelage has grown perceptibly paler. 

 Feb. 1. Pelage has lost its lustre, and begins to 



look weathered. 

 Mar. 21. Antlers of the largest male dropped, 



9 hours apart. 

 Apr. 8. Each budding antler looks like a big 



brown tomato. 

 Apr. 18. New antlers about 5 inches long, thick 



and stumpy. 

 Apr. 30. Each antler has developed three 



branches. Young elk born, well 



spotted. Closely hidden in the rocks. 



Height 26 inches; length 35 inches; 



weight 30J iiounds. 

 May 10. Shedding in full progress; the Elk look 



their worst. 

 June 1. Shedding about half finished. 

 June 18. Antlers now full length, but club-like; 



