THE ELK, PAST AND PRESENT 281 



Elk survived much later in northern Germany 

 than in southern. Johann Sigismund, margrave 

 of Brandenburg, according to official records 

 which are still preserved, killed 11,598 game 

 animals between 1612 and 1619, and of these 112 

 were elk.''' But the numbers of elk in northern 

 Germany were reduced by the encroachments of 

 agriculture, by hunting, and by disease. In 

 Saxony they resisted extinction, however, until 

 1746, in Galicia until 1760, and in Silesia until 

 1776. When finally the cry was raised that they 

 were causing injury to the forests by eating the 

 twigs of saplings, systematic slaughter was under- 

 taken. This resulted about 1830 in the death of 

 the last elk in the province of West Prussia. 

 Since that time the only foothold of the elk in 

 Germany has been in East Prussia, and here, 

 rigidly protected, a comparatively small number 

 still survive. Aside from these the only elk now 

 to be found in Europe are in Russia and in the 

 Scandinavian Peninsula. 



We have no reason to suppose that moose in their 

 American home have deteriorated in size since the 

 time of Champlain, and as little to think that the 

 elk today are smaller than those which the royal 



"J. G. Bujack, in Preussische Provinzial-Bldtter, vol. xxi. (Konigs- 

 berg, 1839), p. 237. 



