the animal turns its head upwards and then backwards. While we were 
outlining the male, we often observed him to dilate the lachrymal spaces 
or openings adjoining the eyes, so that they were almost as wide as long. 
When we drew near he would incline his head sideways, curl back his 
upper lip, and show a portion of his tongue and fine teeth, which last he 
ground or grated together, turning his head the while from side to side, 
and eyeing us with a look of angry suspicion. His eyes enlarged and his 
whole figure partook of the excitement he felt. 
The process of rubbing off the velvet from the horns was soon ac- 
complished by this animal ; he began the moment he had been taken 
out of his box, to rub against the small dog- wood and other trees that 
stood within the enclosure. At a later period of the year we have 
observed the Elk rubbing his antlers against small trees, and acting as if 
engaged in fight ; whether this manoeuvre be performed for the purpose 
of loosening the horns, towards the period when they annually drop off, 
we, in parliamentary language, are not prepared to say. 
Elks at times congregate from the number of fifty to several hundreds, 
and in these cases the whole herd follow the movements of their leader, 
which is generally the largest and the strongest male of the party. They 
all stop when he stops, and at times they will all turn about with as much 
order and with far greater celerity than a troop of horse, of which, when 
thus seen in array, they forcibly remind us. 
From accident or otherwise great differences exist in the formation of 
the antlers of the Elk, although the horns of all the American Corvii 
are so specifically distinct as to enable the close observer to tell al- 
most at a glance to what species any shown to him belonged. The 
ease with which these animals pass, encumbered with their ponderous 
and wide-spreading antlers, through the heavy-timbered lands of the 
West, is truly marvellous ; and we can hardly help wondering that they 
are not oftener caught and entangled by their horns. Instances there 
doubtless are of their perishing from getting fastened between vines, or 
thick growing trees, but such cases are rare. 
The male Elk drops his horns in February or March. The one we 
had dropped one on the ninth of March, and as the other horn held on for 
a day or two longer, the animal in this situation had quite, an awkward 
appearance. After the horns fall, the head looks sore, and sometimes 
the places from which they have been detached are tinged with blood. 
As soon as the huge antlers drop off, the Elks lose their fierce and pug- 
nacious character, and the females are no longer afraid of them ; while 
on the other hand, the males show them no farther attentions whatever. 
