296 



THE OLD-WORLD ELK 



the ancient law-makers of West Gothland (south- 

 ern Sweden) classed him with the fox, the wolf, 

 the lynx, and the bear as a noxious animal, and a 

 price was placed on his head.'^ 



Outlawed by those who in a later age would have 

 given him legal protection, and preyed upon by the 

 wolf-packs of only seventy or eighty years ago, the 

 numbers were so reduced in Sweden and Norway 

 that it was necessary to wage systematic warfare 

 on the wolves and prohibit killing the elk at any 

 season, save that every tenth year elk might be 

 hunted for a brief period under rigid limitations. 

 There is now a short open season each fall, the 

 shooting season in Norway, according to the 

 latest information at hand, being the last twenty- 

 one days in September. 



In Russia there are strict laws protecting hinds 

 [females], enforced by a fine of one hundred 

 roubles for killing each one, but the bulls are 

 mercilessly destroyed without regard to age or size ; 

 hence fine palmated horns are growing very scarce 

 in the neighborhood of big towns, where numerous 

 shooting clubs exist. The open season lasts from 

 the end of August till the 31st of December."'^ 



Lloyd, Scandinavian Adventures, vol. ii., p. 93. 

 ^3 E. Demidoff, Prince San Donato, in Sport in Europe (London, 

 1901), p. 389. 



