NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK. 59 



best. There is no finer picture in animate nature than a 

 herd of elk in October, with such a setting of greensward, 

 tree-trunk, and foliage. 



The maximum shoulder height of the Elk is 5 feet 4 

 inches, or thereabouts, and the heaviest weight noted thus 

 far is 927 pounds. 



The calves are born from May to July, and are spotted 

 during the first six months. During the first year the ant- 

 lers are merely two straight spikes, called "dag antlers." 

 As in all members of the Deer Family, the antlers are shed 

 every year — which to many persons is almost beyond be- 

 lief. Any person who visits a zoological garden in mid- 

 summer will see that the old antlers have dropped off bodily, 

 just below the burr, and that new antlers, covered with hair, 

 soft, full of blood, and with club-like "points," have sprung 

 up like mushrooms in place of the old ones. In supplying 

 the great drain on the system necessary to support this re- 

 markable growth, the Elk grows thin, and the fear of hurt- 

 ing his tender young antlers makes him quite timid and in- 

 offensive. He is no longer the tyrant of the herd, and a con- 

 stant menace to his keepers. 



At this point it is not amiss to call attention to the differ- 

 ences between horns and antlers. 



A horn is a hollow sheath, growing over a bony core, and 

 except in the case of the prong-horned antelope, is never 

 shed. Horns are worn by both sexes of all bison, buffaloes, 

 cattle, antelope, sheep, and goats. 



An antler is of solid bone throughout, growing from the 

 skull ; it is shed every year close to the skull, and quickly 

 renewed. Usually antlers have several branches. They are 

 worn by nearly all male members of the Deer Family — moose, 

 elk, caribou, deer, etc., and edso by the female caribou. The 

 prongs on an antler are no index of the wearer's age. Some 

 of the finest and most massive elk antlers have only twelve 

 or fourteen points. During August and September the hairy 

 covering, or "velvet," of new antlers is rubbed off against 

 trees and bushes. This period is quickly followed by the 

 mating season, during wbich the neck of the bull becomes 

 unusually large, and often the animal becomes dangerous. 



Although the Elk is essentially a timber-loving animal, it 

 also wandered far into the plains bordering the Rocky 

 Mountains on the east — until driven from them by man. 

 The ideal home of this animal is the timbered foothills of 

 our western mountains, up to 8,000 feet. Although once 



