RANGE OF ELK IN EUROPE AND ASIA 289 



In the extreme east the southern boundary of 

 the elk's range begins at the Sea of Japan, in the 

 vicinity of Vladivostok. The line crosses Man- 

 churia, passes near the southern extremity of 

 Lake Baikal, then crosses northern Mongolia, and 

 reaches the Altai mountain range. In general, 

 the mountain ranges which form the water-shed 

 between the streams flowing into the Arctic Ocean 

 and those flowing into the Pacific, mark the south- 

 ern boundary of the elk's Asiatic range. From the 

 Altai Mountains to the Ural range this southern 

 boundary line trends north of west, crossing into 

 Europe at about the 57th parallel. 



The southern boundary of the elk's range crosses 

 European Russia in an irregular line, trending 

 south of west, and reaching, in the government 

 of Volhynia in West Russia, at about the 51st 

 parallel, the southernmost point to which it extends 

 in Europe. Some centuries ago the forest areas of 

 Russia extended farther south than they do 

 today. As the forests were destroyed the elk 

 retreated northward, but since 1850 there has 

 been a marked tendency to reoccupy some of this 

 territory once abandoned. Fr. Th. Koppen, 

 Russian writer, declares that no similar instance 

 is known where any great mammal, having once] 

 yielded to the advance of agriculture, has spread 



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