DEER. 
375 
the caribou and of the wild reindeer of the Old World. The pairing-season of the 
barren-ground caribou is, however, said to be in the winter; while that of the 
woodland variety is in September. In the case of the latter, the antlers of the 
bucks are shed in December, while those of the does do not fall until the spring. 
The fawns are produced in May, and are either one or two in number. 
Owing to incessant pursuit, in season and out of season, the numbers of the 
caribou have been greatly reduced in many districts; but, in Newfoundland, these 
animals are now protected by special laws. 
The Elk or Moose. 
Genus Alces. 
The largest living representative of the Deer family is the somewhat ungainly- 
looking animal known in Europe as the elk, and in North America as the moose 
{Alces machlis). This fine animal differs from all other deer in the form and 
setting-on of the antlers of the male; and it is not improbable that these append¬ 
ages have really no connection with those of the true deer, but were independently 
acquired. 
In build, the elk is characterised by the length of its limbs, its short neck, 
very long and flapping ears, and the great length and narrowness of the head, 
which terminates in a broad overhanging muzzle, completely covered with short 
fine hair, save for a small triangular spot just below the nostrils. The extremity 
of the muzzle is flexible, and the eyes are small and sunken. The antlers, instead 
of emerging from the forehead at an acute angle with its middle line and inclining 
forwards, as is the case with all living representatives of the genus Cervus, project 
on either side at right angles to the middle line of the forehead, and in the same 
plane as its surface. Their basal portion consists of a short, cylindrical beam, 
without any tine, and beyond this beam they expand into an enormous basin-like 
palmation. In young animals, and more especially in the Swedish elk, the 
antlers have their palmated portion divided into a smaller anterior and a larger 
posterior moiety; but in the adult of the American form these two coalesce 
into a single palmation, elongated from back to front, and containing a number 
of short and irregular snags on its outer edge. The antlers of fine specimens 
may weigh as much as 60 lbs.; and in a head in the possession of Mr. Otlio Shaw 
the antlers have a span of 65 inches, a length along the palmation of 41 inches, 
and a width across the same of 24 inches, but a span of 66 inches is on record. 
The antlers do not attain their full dimensions till the animal has attained its 
ninth year. 
The skull of the elk differs from that of other deer in the extreme shortness 
of the nasal bones, and the consequently very large size of the cavity of the nose. 
The upper molar teeth have very low and broad crowns. The tail is so short that 
it is scarcely more than a rudiment. 
The elk carries its short neck nearly horizontally, and therefore somewhat 
lower than the elevated withers; and it is this feature which so largely contributes 
to the ungainly and ugly appearance of the animal. The feet have long and 
