92 
ELK. 
The young, sometimes one, but usually two in number, are brought 
forth in the latter end of May or June. It is stated by Godman, we 
know not on what authority, that when twins are produced they are 
generally male and female. 
A friend of ours related to us some time ago the following anecdote. 
A gentleman in the interior of Pennsylvania who kept a pair ofPlks in a 
large woodland pasture, was in the habit of taking pieces of bread or a 
few handfuls of corn with him when he walked in the enclosure, to 
feed these animals, calling them up for the amusement of his friends. 
Having occasion to pass through his park one day, and not having pro\ i- 
ded himself with bread or corn for his pets, he was followed by the buck, 
who expected his usual gratification : the gentleman, irritated by the per- 
tinacity with which he was accompanied, turned round, and picking up 
a small stick, hit the animal a smart blow, upon Avhich, to his astonish- 
ment and alarm, the buck, lowering his head, rushed at him and made a 
furious pass with his horns : luckily the gentleman stumbled as he at- 
tempted to fly, and fell over the prostrate trunk of a tree, near which lay 
another log, and being able to throw his body between the two trunks, 
the Elk was unable to injure him, although it butted at him repeatedly 
and kept him prisoner for more than an hour. Not relishing this pro- 
ceeding, the gentleman, as soon as he escaped, gave orders to have the 
unruly animal destroyed. 
The teeth of the Elk are much prized by the Indians to ornament their 
dresses ; a “ queen’s robe ” presented to us is decorated with the teeth of 
fifty-six Elks. This splendid garment, which is made of antelope skins, 
was valued at no less than thirty horses ! 
The droppings of the Elk resemble those of other deer, but are much 
larger. 
The Elk, like other deer, lie down during the middle of the day, and 
feed principally at early morning, and late in the evening. They drink a 
good deal of water. 
This species can be easily domesticated, as we have observed it in 
menageries and in parks both of Europe and America. The males, like 
those of the Virginian deer, as they advance in age, by their pugna- 
cious habits are apt to become troublesome and dangerous. The Elk 
lives to a great age, one having been kept in the possession of the elder 
Pealu of Philadelphia for thirteen years ; we observed one in the Park 
of a nobleman in Austria that had been received from America twenty- 
five years before. 
