58 



THE AMERICAN MOOSE] 



and New World elks [moose] as even representing 

 distinct sub-species.'"^ 



A Russian writer on Cervus alces, or Alces 

 mac hits y Baron von Kapherr, author of Das Elch- 

 wildy in an article in Die Jagd (Berlin), March 3, 

 1907, ridicules the efforts of zoologists to subdivide 

 the animal kingdom, and especially the Cervidce^ 

 into a multiplicity of species. In a spirit of satire 

 he differentiates between his black dachshund 

 and his yellow dachshund, the former being in a 

 species which he calls Canis domesticus subter- 

 ramus ater, and the latter being Canis domesticus 

 taxus aureus. Incidentally he classifies zoologists 

 in a way not altogether complimentary to the 



species" which delights in hair-splitting distinc- 

 tions. In his judgment moose, whether found 

 in Europe, Asia, or America, are no more to be 

 separated into distinct species than are his two 

 dachshunds.'^ 



There are differences between the moose (or 

 elk) in one territory and another by reason of 

 different climatic or other conditions, especially 

 in respect to food, or by reason of inbreeding or 

 deterioration due to persistent hunting of the 



»8 The Deer oj All Lands (London, 1898), p. 54. 

 Martenson reaches the same conclusion. — Der Elch (Riga, 1903), 



p. 5. 



