QUADRUPEDS. 129 
of spirits of ammonia. The buck stands about three 
feet high, and measures about live feet in length. The 
tail is much longer than those of the stag and the roebuck, 
being nearly seven inches and a half long. 
THE ELK (Cervus Alces) 
Is the largest of all the Deer kind. The antlers, at first 
simple, and then divided into narrow slips, assume in the 
fifth year the form of a triangular blade, denticulated on 
the external edge and very thick at the base. They in- 
crease with age, so as to weigh fifty or sixty pounds, and 
to have fourteen branches to each horn. The Elk lives in 
forests, upon branches and sprouts of trees, and is an in- 
habitant of Europe, Asia, and America; in the last-named 
country he is known by the name of moose-deer. There 
is very little difference between the European Elk and the 
American moose-deer, they are probably larger in the New 
World than with us, owing perhaps to the extensive forests 
they range in. In all places, however, they are timorous and 
gentle; content with their pasture, and never willing to 
disturb any other animal. The pace of the Elk is a high, 
shambling trot, but it goes with great swiftness. For- 
merly these animals were made use of in Sweden to draw 
G 5 
