In size the Guanaco is between the llama and vicunia, and its shoulder height is about 4 feet. Its hair is thick and woolly, of a pale reddish color, and there are naked patches on the legs. This species is found on the Andes, from Ecuador to Terra del Fuego, and appears to be most abundant in Patagonia.
The Vicunia, (Lama vicunia), is the only member of the cameloid group which is not clothed with a mass of long hair. It is the smallest member of the group, comparatively short-haired, its color is a uniform light brown, its head is small, and there are no callosities on the hind legs. The Vicunia is found from southern Ecuador, through Peru to central Bolivia.
NORTH AMERICAN DEER.
Elk, Mule Deer, White-Tail, Caribou and Moose.
The American members of the Deer Family will be found in the ranges situated on the hill west of the Wild-Fowl Pond, stretching from the Llama House northward to the Service Road.
After several years of experiments, we must admit that to all the American members of the Deer Family save the wapiti white-tailed and mule deer, the climate of New York City is decidedly inimical. This densely humid and extremely saline atmosphere is about as deadly to the black-tail, caribou and moose as it is to the Eskimo; and thus far we have found it an absolute impossibility to maintain satisfactory herds of those species in the ranges available for them. In great tracts of forests, some of them might become acclimatized; but, be that as it may, all experiments made thus far both here and in two of the great game preserves of New England, prove conclusively that black-tail deer, mule deer, caribou, moose, and also prong-horned antelope, are among the most difficult of all ruminants to acclimatize anywhere in the United States eastward of the great plains.
Although the Zoological Society will continue its experiments with some of these preserve species, and will always strive to exhibit some of them, our original hopes regarding them have been abandoned. We are certain that the difficulty lies not in the food, but in climate conditions, that are beyond our control, and especially our very salty atmosphere.
The American Elk, or Wapiti, (Cervus canadensis.)—Of all the numerous members of the Deer Family, this animal is second in size to the moose only; and in the autumn, when its pelage is bright and luxuriant, its sides well rounded, its massive antlers clean and held conspicuously aloft, the elk may justly be called the king of the Cervidae. It is well that in the Yellowstone Park we have an unfailing supply of Elk, which bids fair to perpetuate this handsome species for another century.
Our Elk Range might well stand for a mountain park, in which is set a natural lakelet of real value. In October, when the splendid groves of beech, oak, and maple along the eastern ridge put on all the glorious tints of autumn, and the big thicket of sumacs, ash, and haw on the northern hill fairly blaze with scarlet—then are the elk also at their best. There is no finer picture in animate nature than a herd of elk in October, with such a setting of greensward, tree-trunk, and foliage.
AMERICAN ELK.