Two more stags close the list of those Asiatic deer which approximate more or less closely to the red deer type. These are the Shou, or Sikhim Stag, and Thorold's Deer, concerning neither of which animals is much known at present. The shou, of which only the head has yet been brought to England, appears to be a very large stag, in size approximating to the gigantic wapiti. The antlers are very large, extending to as much as 55 inches over the outer curve. So far as is at present known, this great deer is found in the country "north of Bhutan and the valley eastward of Chumbi, which drains northward into the Sangpo." No European hunter, it is believed, has ever yet levelled a rifle or even set eyes on this noble deer.
In England Thorold's deer is known from two specimens shot by Dr. W. G. Thorold, during a journey across Tibet, at an elevation of about 13,500 feet. The high Tibetan plateau and other adjacent parts of Central Asia form the habitat of this species. In size Thorold's deer is about on a level with the Kashmir stag: the coat is dark brown; the antlers are distinctive in their backward curve, in the lack of the bez tine, and their flattened appearance. The muzzle and chin are pure white, as is the inner surface of the ears.
Wapiti.
Wapiti are the giants of the red deer group, carrying enormous antlers, and attaining as much as 1,000 lbs. in weight. The true wapiti of North America, known in that country chiefly by the local name of Elk, carry by far the finest and the heaviest heads of any of the typical deer kind. Mr. Rowland Ward, in his book "Records of Big Game," gives the length of antlers of a twelve-pointer shot in the Olympic Mountains, Washington State, as 70 inches over the outer curve; while another specimen, also a twelve-pointer, taken from a wapiti shot in Wyoming, measures 66 inches. Occasional heads bear as many as 17, 19, and even 20 tines, or points, but from 12 to 14 points are more usual in fine average heads. A good stag will stand from 5 feet 4 inches to 5 feet 8 inches at the shoulder. Magnificently shaped, splendid in form and bearing, as in the size of its antlers, a more lordly creature than the stag wapiti does not pace the earth.
Photo by G. W. Wilson & Co., Ltd.] [Aberdeen.
MANCHURIAN WAPITI CALLING.
The great size of the fourth tine, characteristic of the species, is very noticeable.
"The wapiti," says Colonel Theodore Roosevelt in "The Encyclopedia of Sport," "is highly polygamous, and during the rut the master bulls gather great harems about them and do fierce battle with one another, while the weaker bulls are driven off by themselves. At this time the bulls are comparatively easy to approach, because they are very noisy, incessantly challenging one another by night and day. Settlers and hunters usually speak of their challenge as 'whistling,' but this is a very inadequate description. The challenge consists of several notes, first rising and then falling. Heard near by, especially among unattractive surroundings, it is not particularly impressive, varying in tone from a squeal to a roar, and ending with grunts; but at a little distance it is one of the most musical sounds in nature, sounding like some beautiful wind instrument. Nothing makes the heart of a hunter leap and thrill like the challenge of a wapiti bull, as it comes pealing down under the great archways of the mountain pines, through the still, frosty, fall weather; all the more if it be at night, under the full moon, and if there is light snow on the ground."
Wapiti in North America have suffered much from persecution, and it is now difficult indeed to secure fine heads like those that fell to hunters twenty or thirty years since. Twelve or fifteen years ago, during winter-time, bands of wapiti in Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana were to be seen gathered together to the number of thousands; now a score or two is the rule, where these animals are to be found at all. However, by those who know where to go for their game, and can hold a rifle straight, wapiti are still to be obtained.