302 FOUR-FOOrED AMEiacAisrs 



" The antlers are now hardening fast, and the Deer 

 rub them against tree trunks and on the ground until 

 this velvet, being no longer needed, peels off in strips 

 and dries away, leaving the smooth polished bone in 

 early autumn, when the antler has attained its complete 

 growth. 



"Now comes the answer to your question, Eap, about 

 the various sizes of antlers. The first pair on a young 

 Deer are usually straight beams with few tines, but they 

 increase in size each year, the wonderful pairs we hear 

 of belonging to very strong Deer upward of six or 

 seven 3'ear8 old, the size depending both on strength 

 and age. The end and aim of this wonderful growth 

 seems to be to furnish the jealous, quarrelsome stags 

 with weapons for fighting each other during their court- 

 ing season, which is in autumn ; for shortly after this 

 mating time the shedding begins, though some Deer 

 keep the antlers much hinger than others, and ^Nloose 

 usually shed theirs some time before Elk. As you look 

 at the various heads, you will see that the antlers differ 

 in shape. Those of the ^Vmerican Deer and Elk are 

 the m(5st alike, botli being fined, but the beam of the 

 American Deer's branches outward and forward, and 

 the beam of the Elk's outward and backward. These 

 two Deer also have compact, trim feet, with the hind 

 toes, called dew claws, set well up ; but these cloven 

 hoofs cut through the snow and make them very help- 

 less in seasons of deep drifts. 



" The ^loose and the Woodland Caribou are also 

 somewliat evenly paired. The Caribou, as you have 

 seen, wears curious antlers, curving and bending every 

 whicli way, forward and back, with botli fined and leaf- 



