Habits 



57 



again on the leeward side of their path, so that they are sure to receive 

 the scent of any person or animal following their trail. Whether the 

 Scandinavian elk is as fond of wading after aquatic plants as its western 

 brother, I have been unable to ascertain. 



As a rule, elk in both hemispheres do not associate in herds, although a 

 few may collect together during winter. For a considerable part of the 

 year the stags and hinds keep more or less apart, but at the beginning of 

 the hunting season in Norway a male and female, together with one or two 



Fig. 13. — Elk in the Park at Woburn Abbey. From a photograph by the Duchess of Bedford. 



calves, may frequently be found in company, although at the same time 

 other individuals of both sexes roam about alone. The pairing-season in 

 Norway commences about the latter part of September, and at this time 

 the stags become extremely pugnacious. During this season both sexes 

 " call," the cry of the female having been compared to the roar of an 

 angry bear. Many hunters, however, have stated that they have constantly 

 hunted elk in Norway without ever hearing them call ; and Sir Henry 

 Pottinger in the Badminton Library suggests that elk may possibly be 

 less noisy in Scandinavia than they are in America. During the season 



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