MISBELIEFS ABOUT THE ELK 355 



scientists, and, in a less degree, sportsmen have 

 contributed to the misrepresentations which have 

 been pubHshed concerning him. 



The ancient Germans, in their days of paganism, 

 revered the elk as a divinity, or, as Erasmus Stella 

 wrote, as a messenger of the gods. From that 

 time to this the great animal has never been 

 reduced to the commonplace plane where the 

 other forest creatures pass their humdrum exist- 

 ence. Thanks to his uncouth figure, his colossal 

 size, and a disposition to spend his life in the 

 retirement of thick woods, far from the sight of 

 men, he has always been surrounded by a halo 

 of mystery and misunderstanding. There are still 

 many questions concerning the elk and the moose 

 about which writers differ, but the number is 

 growing less as modern matter-of-fact methods 

 are applied to the study of zoology. 



