5 8 Elk 



in question the male elk eats but little, and consequently gets into very 

 poor condition. The fawns, which may be either one or two in number, 

 and very rarely three, are produced in the spring. 



In America, where the elk is known as the moose, and the former 

 name transferred to the wapiti, the general habits of the animal are very 

 similar to those of its European brother. Its favourite haunts are the dense 

 thickets situated round the swamps and shallow lakes near the sources of 

 the North American streams. In winter they resort to higher ground, 

 where boughs are abundant ; and at this season, as the snow increases in 

 depth and hardens, one or more individuals form what is known as " moose 

 yards," which may be of very considerable extent, and are kept open by 

 constant trampling. It is commonly said that the males and females " yard " 

 by themselves, but this is expressly denied by Mr. C. C. Ward, 1 although 

 it seems to be ascertained that very old males will often winter by them- 

 selves. The " yard " is situated in a district where white poplar, maple, 

 and mountain-ash are abundant ; and although the latter of these form the 

 staple food of the imprisoned elk, yet the needles and young twigs of 

 juniper, balsam-fir, and other conifers are also consumed. " During their 

 confinement in yards at the height of winter," writes Mr. Herrick, 2 " the 

 accessible shrubs are very closely cropped, but ordinarily the tree is not 

 killed, since only one side is stripped. The bark is removed to a height of 

 ten feet, as the animal rears upon its hind legs and peels the bark. The 

 direction a herd is moving may be ascertained by one familiar with their 

 habits, since the bushes browsed are pulled towards the animal. The fir 

 trees are browsed but the bark is not eaten, yet hunters state that young 

 firs suffer more than other species from the habit of the males of rubbing 

 their heads upon them in such a way as to apply the balsam to the abraded 

 skin about the horns." 



Although the union is only for a season, the male elk in America, as 

 in Scandinavia, selects a single female at the commencement of the pairing- 

 season, with whom he retires to the densest thickets for a period of three 

 weeks or a month. Here the two remain peaceably, unless disturbed by 

 the intrusion of another male, when a fierce struggle immediately takes 

 place. The antlers of the males are shed during January, and the new pair 



1 In Mayer's Sport with dun and Rod, p. I 59. 

 ' l Mammals of Minnesota, p. 273. 



