WESTERN WILD SPORTS. 
161 
row point; the ears are large and rapidly movable; the eyes 
are full and dark; the horns rise loftily from the front, with nu¬ 
merous sharp-pointed branches, which are curved forwards, and 
the head is sustained upon a neck at once slender, vigorous, and 
graceful. The beauty of the male Elk is still farther heightened 
by the long forward curling hair, which forms a sort of ruff or 
beard, extending from the head toward the breast, where it grows 
short and is but little different from the common covering. The 
body of the Elk, though large, is finely proportioned ; the limbs 
are small and apparently delicate, but are strong, sinewy, and 
agile. The hair is of a bluish-gray color in autumn; during 
winter it continues of a dark gray, and at the approach of spring, 
it assumes a reddish or bright brown color, which is permanent 
throughout summer. 
“ The croupe is of a pale yellowish-white or clay color, and 
this color extends about the tail for six or seven inches, and is 
almost universally found in both sexes. There is no very per¬ 
ceptible difference of color between the male and female. 
" The female, however, does not participate in the * branch¬ 
ing honors’ of the male, which are found to attain, in numerous 
instances, a surprising magnitude. It is not uncommon to see 
them of four and five feet in height, and it is said that they are 
sometimes still higher. Specimens of the largest size may be 
seen in the cabinets of the Philadelphia Museum, and of the 
Lyceum of Natural History, New-York. These horns are said 
to consist of three principal divisions : 1st, The brow-antlers, 
sometimes called ‘ alters’ by the hunters ; 2d, The two middle 
prongs, named ‘ fighting hornsand 3d, The shaft, or proper 
horns. The branches just mentioned are always placed on the 
front, outside or anterior surface, never on the inner side of the 
horns, a circumstance which has been indicated as strikingly dif¬ 
ferent from the arrangement of the branches of the horns of the 
common, or Virginia Deer, hereafter to be described. 
“ The Elk sheds his horns about the end of February, or be¬ 
ginning of March, and such is the rapidity with which the new 
horns shoot forth, that in less than a month they are a foot in 
VOL. II. 11 
