ON THE MAMMALIA OF THIS DISTRICT. 219 



I may never again witness, to see four such 

 splendid animals lying side by side at one time on 

 the grass-plot in front of a house; and considering 

 that I was as it were a novice at this work, I 

 deemed myself lucky in falling in with such a share 

 of the sport. The next day we were fully occupied 

 in skinning and dressing the carcases, and I must 

 say that had the butchers on this occasion practised 

 but a little of the skill and neatness of our English 

 park-keepers, the venison would have looked all 

 the better. But, like the Yankee's singed cat, 

 it ate a great deal better than it looked. At 

 a rough guess, I should say the meat on the four 

 elk would pull down 3000 lb. No bad stock of 

 beef this for the ensuing winter. The largest was 

 the bull we first shot ; but the cow was very little 

 less, and the calf, which to my astonishment all 

 the foresters declared to have been dropped in 

 July (and the dugs of the cow were full of milk), 

 was exactly 6 ft long and 4 ft. high. Pretty well 

 this for a four months' calf. The skins are worth 

 little or nothing except for leather, which, how- 

 ever, must be everlasting, for a pair of elk- skin 

 breeches is an heir-loom in the families of these 

 foresters, and are handed down from father to son 

 for several generations. Pleasant wearing, I 

 should say, in hot weather, after about a score of 

 years' service ! The hair all came off the skins 



