Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/547

ELK 539 hensile purposes ; the neck is thick and short, and the throat somewhat maned in both sexes ; the hair is coarse, thick, and brittle ; the hind legs have the tuft of hair rather above the middle of the metatarsus ; the horns in the males are broad and palmated; the tail is short. The nose cavity in the skull is very large, reaching posteriorly to aline over the front of the molars ; the long intermaxil- laries do not reach to the very short nasals. The horns have no basal snag, the first branch being considerably above the crown. The young are not spotted, but colored like the adult. Elks live in the woods in the northern parts of both continents, but the American is by some considered a distinct species from the European. The true American elk, or moose (as it is universally called here), alee Ameri- canus (Jardine), exceeds all other existing deer in size and strength, and unites to great speed remarkable powers of endurance ; it is as large American Elk (Alee Americanus). as a horse, standing 5 ft. high at the shoulders, and measuring about 7 ft. from nose to tail; the length of the latter is about a foot ; the weight of the horns varies from 45 to 70 Ibs., and that of the animal from 8 to 12 cwt. The moose is an awkward, clumsy, and dispropor- tioned creature, though from its size it possess- es a certain majesty when seen amid the wild scenery of its favorite haunts. The head is too large in proportion to the body for any pretension to the symmetry usually seen in the deer family ; the long, tumid, and movable upper lip gives to the face somewhat of an equine expression, and the heavy ears, more than a foot long, are decidedly asinine. Au- dubon says, " The head forcibly reminds us of that of an enormous jackass." The eyes are deep-seated and comparatively small; under the throat there is in both sexes a tuft of coarse bristly hair attached to a pendulous gland, which is most conspicuous in the young. The horns are found in the males only, and require five years for their full development ; they begin to sprout in April, and complete their growth in July ; the first year they are about an inch long; the second year, 4 or 5 in., with perhaps a rudimentary point ; the third year, about 9 in., each dividing into a round fork; in the fourth year they become palmated, with a brow antler and three or four points ; and the fifth year they have two crown antlers and four or five points ; after this one or two points are added annually, up to as many as 23, with an expanse sometimes of nearly 6 ft. to the outside of the tips, with the palm a foot wide within the points, and a circumference above the burr of 9 in. The horns diminish in size after the animal has passed the period of greatest vigor ; in old and vigorous animals they are shed in December, but young animals sometimes carry them till March. The first inner branch begins about 9 in. from the base ; the palrns are often unlike on the right and left sides, and are channelled irregularly on both surfaces; their color is brownish yellow, with the ends yellowish white. The incisor teeth, six in the lower jaw only, are gouge-like and very white ; the eyes are black; the nose, forehead, and upper lip yellowish fawn ; the sides of the head yellow- ish brown; the general color above varies from blackish to ashy gray; below lighter, with a yellowish white tinge. In winter the color is darker, and in advanced age. so dark as to merit the name given to it by H. Smith, "the American black elk;" the grayish are said to be the largest, reaching a height of 7 or 8 ft. In summer the hair is short arid soft, in winter longer and very coarse, with a fine short wool next the skin. Moose are not un- common in the northern parts of Maine, and in Canada, Nova Scotia, and Labrador, espe- cially in winter. In summer they frequent lakes and rivers to free themselves from insect pests, and feed upon water plants and the ten- der branches of overhanging trees. In winter they retire to the elevated ridges abundantly provided with maple and other hard-wood trees, on the twigs and bark of which they feed. By the elongated upper lip they pull down the branches, which they hold with their fore legs until they are stripped of the twigs ; they peel off the bark by including it between the hard pad on the roof of the mouth and the lower incisors. In winter they tread down the snow, forming what are called " yards," in which are generally found a male, female, and two fawns ; as the trees are strip- ped they tread down fresh snow, and they are fond of going always in the same tracks. They prefer the twigs of the maple, willow, button wood, birch, and aspen, and grasses ; in captivity they will eat the food of domestic cattle. Though their flesh is coarse, it is es- teemed by hunters; the nose or muffle is a special favorite, being rich, gelatinous, and juicy, when cooked like calf's head; the steaks are juicy, often tender, but seldom fat;