560 ^ YERTEBEATA. 
THE ELK OR MOOSE. 
treading on its fore-lieels, tossing the head and shonlders lite a horse about to hrcak from a trot 
to a gallop. It does not leap, but steps without effort over a fallen tree, a gate, or a rail-fence. 
During its progress it holds the nose np so as to lay the horns horizontally baclc. This attitude 
prevents its seeing the ground distinctly, and as the weight is carried very high npon its elevated 
legs, it is said sometimes to trip by treading on its fore-heels, and occasionally to give itself a 
heavy fall. It is probably owing to this occurrence that the Elk was believed by the ancients and 
the vulgar to have frequent attacks of epilepsy, and to be obliged to smell its hoof before it could 
recover ; hence the Teutonic name oi Elend— miserable — and the reputation, especially of the fore- 
hoofs, as a specific against the disease. 
From this description it might seem that the Moose was an uncouth and unsightly animal, and 
so it is when seen in a menagerie, or stuffed, in a museum ; but seen dashing through its native 
forests, it is said to produce on the mind of the beholder a feeling of beauty and sublimity. 
During the winter months the Elk resides chiefly in hilly woods, in snowy Aveather seeking the 
covers, and in clear the open spaces. In sumnaer it frequents swamps on the borders of lakes, 
often going deep into the water to escape the sting of g-hats, and to feed without stooping. . 
Its usual food in winter consists of the buds and bark of button-wood, spruce, and juniper-pines, 
birch and maple, and under the snow it seeks mosses, but this is always with difficulty, for then 
it is obliged to spread the fore-legs, or even, it is said, to kneel. The branches of trees it turns 
down wdth the horns very dexterously. It is a long-Hved animal, and does not attain its full 
growth till fourteen years of age. The female has no horns ; her period of gestation is nine 
months, and she produces from one to three at a birth about the middle of May. In summer and 
autumn the Elk is seen in small herds ; in winter he is often alone or in company of two or three. 
His flesh is excellent, and is seen every winter in the markets of New York and Boston. The 
skin is used for various kinds of covering. 
This animal has been sometimes domesticated in Europe, and has even been taught to draw 
sledges in Sweden. In the United States it is only known as a wild aninial, extremely timorous, 
and flying with terror from man. It was formerly much hunted by the Indians, and constituted 
a large part of their food ; it is now more rare, but is still occasionally pursued, and the chase — 
