THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
ASIATIC ELK 
Alces machlis niger. (Millais.) — A medium-sized elk, much darker in 
pelage, with dark upper parts to the legs and whitish under parts. The 
horns are large and well palmated. I have seen one specimen with 22 points, 
48 inches in span. The skull and horns are altogether more massive than 
European specimens. Habitat: the Yenesei forests and Ural slopes. 
Alces machlis bedfordioe. (Lydekker, “ Proc. Zool. Soc.,” 1902, p. 107.) — 
A small grey elk, the legs being greyish white. The horns are usually non- 
palmated and with four or five prongs, but I have now seen several that 
are palmated, very similar to inferior specimens of European elk. 
The nasal apertures are large, the skull very short. 
This elk is found sparingly in the centre Altai and throughout Tomsk. 
How far east it goes before meeting the large Yakutsk elk is at present 
unknown. 
These elk are killed by the natives by means of pitfalls in May and 
June, crusting on the spring snow, and stalking in the autumn. Bows, 
with arrows, and guns are also set for them. 
Alces machlis yakutskensis. (Millais, “Field,” July 8, 1911.) — A very 
large elk, dark brown all over except for grey nasal disc, legs brown to the 
feet. Horns large, well palmated, having as many as 32 points. Prince 
Demidoff tells me that the animal is as big as Alaskan moose and carries 
as fine horns, but up to date no specimens have been obtained that could 
be described as larger than Eastern American moose. 
Habitat: the Aldan River (a branch of the Lena), Yakutsk, the Verskoyansk 
Mountains and Okhotsk. The elk of Kamchatka is probably closely related. 
In 1903 official Russian figures state that 2,857 elk were killed in Okhotsk, 
so this sub-species must be fairly numerous in certain districts. My 
friend, Mr Lance, who is the only Englishman who has seen a freshly-killed 
specimen, confirms the large size and colour of this sub-species. 
J. G. MILLAIS. 
224 
