Mr. Selous, in his "Sport and Travel, East and West," thus describes a recent experience: "After a few seconds of agonising suspense a noble-looking monarch of the mountains walked slowly from the shelter of the pine-trees and followed the ladies of his household, who had now halted about fifty yards down the slope, passing in quite open ground not more than sixty or seventy yards below me; and as the stag followed them, I waited until he came past, though he had been well within shot ever since he came out from among the trees. As he did not know where I was, and probably had not the least idea why the hinds had trotted off, he came along very leisurely, looking magnificent; for although his antlers were but moderate in size, there were no others of larger proportions near to dwarf them, and even a very ordinary wapiti stag, seen at short range in its native wilds, is a glorious sight to look upon. I let him get a little past me, and then put one of Holland's peg-bullets just behind his shoulder, low down. I saw by the convulsive rush forwards that he made that he was struck through the heart, but I did not expect so large an animal to collapse so quickly. He had not gone twenty paces after being hit, when he fell suddenly right on to the prostrate stem of a large tree, which did not, however, stop him, as the impetus of his fall carried him over it, and he then went sliding at a terrific pace down the steep snow-slope below, and disappeared from sight almost immediately." The dead wapiti was ultimately found 500 feet below, with the antlers, strangely enough, scarcely injured, but the body and quarters much bruised by the fall. He was "a very pretty fourteen-pointer of moderate size."
Photo by C. Reid] [Wishaw, N.B.
AN AXIS HIND.
A species spotted at all seasons.
A fight between two wapiti stags is a terrific encounter. "With heads lowered between their fore feet," says Mr. Perry, "the two adversaries walk around, waiting for an opening; and when one is thrown off his guard, the other makes a savage rush; but his opponent instantly recovers, counters the charge, and as they rush together the antlers strike each other with such terrific force that the report can be heard for a long distance. Slowly retreating, bellowing, grumbling, and grinding their teeth in a paroxysm of rage, they again circle round.... The challenging wapiti usually does most of the offensive fighting until he finds (if such be the case) that he is the weaker; then he suddenly retires, bellowing as he goes." In the old days the Indians of North America were in the habit of organising great wapiti drives. Entire herds were surrounded by a ring of mounted men, and forced over precipices.
By permission of the New York Zoological Society.
A STAG AXIS, OR INDIAN SPOTTED DEER.
One of the most common animals in an Indian jungle scene.