The American Elk 27 
a certain amount of feeding during hard winters, and in the 
Yellowstone Park the United States authorities have done 
the same. In the spring of 1909 the State Game Warden 
of Colorado fed some in Gunnison County. 
The young are one or two, and occasionally three in number 
and have a spotted coat the first few months of their lives, 
until September, when it is shed for one resembling that of 
their parents, who at the same time don their winter suits. 
The new-born calves are kept concealed by the mothers for 
a few days, until they are able to follow, but for some time the 
youngsters spend much of their lives hidden away from 
prying eyes. 
The bulls shed their antlers in March or April, and the new 
horn at once begins to grow, and attains its full size in late 
July or early August, when the velvet drys up and peels 
off, being assisted by rubbing the horns against trees and 
branches. It is not until the velvet has entirely disappeared 
and the horn become thoroughly hardened that the rut com- 
mences, and the bugling is heard. This has been described 
as "a tremendous guttural roaring that rises in pitch to 
trumpet tones and higher until it breaks into a shrill scream- 
ing whistle, then fades and drops again into the guttural, fol- 
lowed and ended by a few savage grunts" (Seton). The 
bugling is frequently followed by terrific fights which have 
been known to result in the death of both parties owing 
to the interlocking of the antlers in one of the furious 
charges made. 
A series of antlers dropped in successive years by an 
elk in captivity was kept by the Duke of Bedford. After the 
first pair of spike horns, the succeeding antlers never had 
less than five points on each side until the ninth year, when 
there was only a single horn on each side, which apparently 
curved forward at first and then turned upwards. The pair 
which succeeded these had many points, but was quite 
