AN ASIATIC (? SAYANSK) WAPITI.
The most interesting feature in the reptilian life of the country is the occurrence of a number of European water-tortoises (Emys orbicularis) in the forest lakes and ponds. One of these we brought home, where it is now flourishing in a green-house. Reference may also be made to the hosts of green tree-frogs (Hyla arborea), whose loud croakings are frequently the only sounds to break the impressive mid-day stillness of the forest. When we first heard the croaking, we mistook it for the note of a bird. The huge size of the ant-hills, many of which are over a yard in height, is another feature of the forests which cannot fail to strike the observer fresh from England. The one drawback to existence—and it is a great one—in this forest-paradise is the abundance of mosquitoes, which make their presence known in the usual objectionable manner.
WAPITI STAG AND HIND.
After these general observations the attention of the reader may be specially directed to the foreign big-game animals which form the great feature of the park. These include European and American bison, elk, Persian and Caucasian red deer, American wapiti (Cervus canadensis), Altai or Sayansk wapiti (Cervus canadensis asiaticus),[2] a very dark-coloured wapiti from the Yenisei valley, the Pekin or Dybowski’s deer (Cervus hortulorum), and the Siberian roebuck (Capreolus pygargus). The great charm connected with the bison and deer in the Pilawin preserve is that they are living in what is practically a wild state, and in order to be seen have in many cases to be regularly “stalked,” although not unfrequently the tourist may come upon them more or less unexpectedly. The extent of the park is, indeed, so great that there is probably nothing to suggest to its denizens that they are living in an enclosed area; and the diversity in the nature of the forest, together with the presence of numerous large clearings (either natural or artificial), enables them to select and inhabit the kind of country best suited to their needs. In consequence of this freedom and choice of “station,” each species or individual takes possession of a kind of territory of its own; the elk skulking singly amid the thick foliage of the deciduous forests, while the bison prefer the open clearings, with the adjacent covert for retirement, and the wapiti favour the pine-forest. Roebuck, on the other hand, are to be met with, either singly or in pairs, in almost all parts of the forest. As labourers are constantly employed in the preserve during the winter months in draining, timber-felling, and road-making, while carriages traverse the network of roads when visitors are staying at the lodge (to say nothing of those constantly used by the park director), the animals are, however, well accustomed to the presence of human beings, and can consequently be approached to within comparatively short distances. Nevertheless they are not too tame; retaining, in fact, all the characteristic traits and habits of really wild creatures. In the late summer and early autumn, when the wapiti stags are calling (as was the case at the time of our visit), it is, of course, necessary to exercise considerable care and caution in approaching them, and it is well for visitors to be at all times accompanied by one of the foresters or keepers in the parts most frequented by the animals.
[2] This identification is provisional, as it is exceedingly difficult to recognise the various races of Asiatic wapiti when seen at a distance. For the names and characteristics of these races the reader may consult an article in the Field newspaper for January 1908.
THE DEAD BISON.
Here it may be mentioned that, a short time subsequent to our visit, the stags in the preserve, as I am informed by Count Potocki, became on a sudden unusually ferocious, attacking everything and everybody within reach. The head-keeper, Adam, was badly gored by the big wapiti, but happily recovered. Soon afterwards the same stag attacked and killed the only bull American bison, this being, of course, a great loss, as it will be difficult to find another mate for the one cow by which alone the species is for the moment represented in the preserve.
