112 TEXT-BOOK OF ZOOLOGY 



and the fine mane which adorns the neck of the male. It avoids forestB 

 with underwood, where its huge, many-pronged antlers, the weight of 

 which requires a short and powerful neck (bull-necked ; see ox), would 

 impede its movements. It therefore prefers highland forests. The stag 

 sheds his antlers in February. Its mode of life resembles that of the 

 roe deer, but it inflicts even greater damage on the farmer and forester 

 than the former species. 



The Fallow Deer (Davia vulgaris) originates from the countries 

 bordering the Mediterranean. In this country it is kept as an ornament 

 to parks. The male carries palmate antlers. 



The Elk (Alces palmatus). — This animal was formerly abundant in 

 Germany, but at the present day a few head only are preserved in the 

 forest of Ibenhost, near Tilsit. In Scandinavia, the northern parts of 

 Eussia, Asia, and North America, it is still met in the wild state. It is 

 a powerful animal, with long legs, reaching about the size of a horse. 

 It inhabits marshy forests. Its hoofs can be spread wide apart, and 

 are united by an extensile skin, and together with the posterior toes, 

 which almost touch the ground (compare the wild boar), enable it to 

 cross swamps which a man could not set foot on. The antlers are 

 of very large size, and may weigh as much as 40 pounds ; their 

 surfaces are very broad (palmate). The neck is, accordingly, short 

 (see head of elephant), so that the animal can hardly approach its 

 mouth to the ground. Its food therefore consists of the leaves of 

 young trees, shrubs, bark; but its favourite food is supplied by the 

 willow. By means of its upper lip, which is elongated almost into 

 a snout, it seizes whole bundles of leaves, and conveys them to its 

 mouth. With its chisel-shaped incisors it detaches the bark until it 

 can reach it with its upper lip, and then tears it off in large pieces from 

 below upwards. 



The Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) is a true denizen of the North. 

 The hair in the summer is dark coloured ; with the approach of the 

 colder season it is exchanged for a winter fur about" 1£ inches thick, 

 and of a dirty-gray colour, but little different from that of the snow. 

 The hoofs are broad and deeply cleft, and can therefore be spread 

 widely apart, whilst the posterior toes actually touch the ground 

 (note the track in illustration opposite). By these means the animal is 

 enabled to traverse inhospitable marshes, as well as the immense snow- 

 plains of its home (compare with wild boar). Its chief food in the 

 winter is the reindeer moss (Cladonia rangiferina), which in the North 

 covers vast plains, and is also met with in German forests. To get at it 

 the reindeer scrapes away the snow with its hoofs, and, according to 

 some naturalists, with the additional help of its nose and antlers. The 



