The antelope's horns and the deer's antlers are also different in other ways, which you cannot see in the pictures. So I shall tell you about them:
1. The antelope's horns are hollow inside, and made of the same kind of thing as the hoofs or nails of an animal, only they are thicker and harder. But a deer's antlers are solid, and made of bone.
2. Both the Papas and the Mammas among antelopes have horns. But among most kinds of deer, only the Papas have the antlers; the Mammas have none.
3. Among antelopes, when once the Papas and the Mammas have grown their horns, they keep them always. But among deer, the Papas throw away their antlers every year, and grow new ones. That seems very wonderful! I shall tell you more about it soon.
But now I shall tell you, little by little, all the wonderful things the deer and the antelope can do. I shall begin with the deer, as there are many kinds of deer in America.
Of course, in America there are not such wild jungles as in countries which are hot all the year round. Still, there are many places in the West and a few other parts of America where there is some kind of jungle and plenty of forest. A forest is a kind of jungle, only it has more trees, and fewer thickets; but wild animals can live there just the same.
Elk and Other American Deer
The biggest kind of deer in America is the moose; in fact, it is the biggest kind of deer in the world. The second biggest is the elk; he is nearly as big as the moose. Some people think that the moose and the elk are exactly the same kind of deer, but that is not quite correct. In this book I must not make it too hard for you to understand, by telling you how they are different. So I shall tell you all about the elk, as his picture is on page 109.
Once upon a time elks lived in all parts of America, but now they have been killed off by hunters in most parts, and are found wild only in the Far West.
The elk is a fine fellow. At the shoulder he is as tall as a man, and is as heavy as six men. He lives in places where there is plenty of forest—that is, plenty of trees. Why trees? Because he needs them in winter—for then the bark is his food!