128 
THE ELK, Olt MOOSE. 
are only about, seven or eight iiicbes in length. Du- 
ring the third year, or the second of the horns, in 
the animal kept alive in Paris, they oidy reached the 
length of sixteen or eighteen indies, and had not 
commenced to palmate. This might be influenced 
by confinement. According to Hamilton Smith, 
the incipient horns appear the first year to the length 
of an inch ; the second they rise to a foot ; the third 
they are forked ; the fourth they first assume six 
snags, and are somewhat flattened ; the fifth year the 
blade is still small, but the expansion from that time 
forward is uniform. The snags sometimes amount 
to twenty-eight. 
The Elk, according to most writers, and the more 
accurate accounts we have received, is not grega- 
rious, one or two being only seen together, except 
during the breeding -season. During summer, they 
frequent the lower countries, near the borders of the 
lakes, where they find a refuge in the waters from the 
tormenting stings of the mosquitoes ; and during the 
rutting season, the fringed hanks and beautiful wood- 
ed islands afford cover and shelter to the gravid fe- 
male or the young. To these retreats the does retire 
at this important season, the beginning of September, 
where they are sought out by the adult males, who 
drive away the younger, and keep off all intruders. 
In winter, again, they frequent the wooded hills, find- 
ing both shelter and food when the ground has re- 
ceived its winter covering. Their necks are so short, 
and the legs so long, that they are unable to feed on 
