Photo by Mr. W. Rau] [Philadelphia.
AMERICAN WAPITI.
The dark head, fore-quarters, and under-parts, so distinctive of the wapiti, are here well displayed.
In England the wild red deer are hunted with stag-hounds on Exmoor, and first-rate sport is obtained on the great moorlands of Somerset and Devon. During the last fifty years the deer have much increased in numbers, and no less than three packs—the Devon and Somerset, Sir John Heathcoat-Amory's, and Mr. Peter Ormrod's—are now engaged in hunting them. In the five years ending in 1892, 276 deer were killed by the Devon and Somerset hounds.
The young of the red deer are in Europe usually dropped in June. The fawn is dexterously concealed by the hind amid the heather, and is left in concealment during the day. Scrope, a great authority on these animals, states that the hind induces her fawn to lie down by pressure of the nose: "It will never stir or lift up its head the whole of the day, unless you come right upon it, as I have often done; it lies like a dog, with its nose to its tail. The hind, however, although she often separates herself from the young fawn, does not lose sight of its welfare, but remains at a distance to windward, and goes to its succour in case of an attack of the wild cat or fox, or any other powerful vermin."
On the Continent far finer examples of red deer are to be found than in the British Isles, and the antlers and records of weights preserved at the Castle of Moritzburg in Saxony, and elsewhere, show that two hundred years ago the stags of Germany were far superior even to those of the present day, which are much heavier and afford finer trophies than do the Highland red deer. Even in Germany, however, marked deterioration has taken place during the last two centuries. A stag, for example, killed by the Elector of Saxony in 1646 weighed not less than 61 stone 11 lbs.; while from the Elector's records between 1611 and 1656 it appears that 59 stags exceeded 56 stone, 651 exceeded 48 stone, 2,679 exceeded 40 stone, and 4,139 exceeded 32 stone. These figures are given by Mr. W. A. Baillie-Grohman, a distinguished sportsman, in a very interesting chapter contributed to the "Big Game Shooting" volumes of the Badminton Library.
By permission of the New York Zoological Society.
AMERICAN WAPITI.
In the United States this species is universally miscalled the Elk.