ELK HERD IN THE NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK
Is it not a pleasing thought that even in this age of universal slaughter there is one big-game species that still exists in millions, on our own continent? To-day the Barren Ground caribou is protected by distance and the frost king. But this condition is too bright to last. Ere long,—perhaps to-morrow,—the Canadians will build a railroad from Fort Churchill, on Hudson Bay, straight through the heart of the Barren Ground caribou range to the Arctic coast, and then the ranks of the caribou will be depleted.
The caribou are members of the Deer Family, but one and all they exhibit many unique features. Their antlers are flat, the females have horns, their muzzles are large and square-ended, their feet are very broad and spreading,—like snow-shoe hoofs,—and their heads are carried low. The caribou gait is a swift, far-striding trot.
In the United States caribou are found at two points only: in Maine and northern Idaho;—but we no longer guarantee the latter. South of the Barren Grounds of northern Canada the best localities for caribou are Newfoundland, the Cassiar Mountains, the Iskoot country of British Columbia, the White River country of western Yukon Territory and the Alaska Peninsula.
The Osborn caribou is a grand animal, every way considered. The white Peary caribou, of Ellesmere Land, is very small, its head is more deer-like than that of any other caribou, and it looks like a misfit white deer with imitation caribou antlers upon its head. Unlike all other members of the Deer Family, the female caribou has horns; but they are small and weak.
The Moose
The moose is an animal as odd and picturesque as if it had come to us straight from Wonderland. Walk between those colossal legs and under that high-holden body, gaze on those snow-shovel antlers, consider the amazing overhang of that nose, and then say where an equally amazing combination can be found on this continent.
Copyright by The Knapp Co., N. Y.
BULL MOOSE—THE CHALLENGE