The Living Animals of the World, Volume I: Mammals

THE EEINDEER.

REINDEER are distinguished all of deer kinds other from .,, _,,, by Photo by Valentine & Sons, Ltd.] [Dundee. the fact that antlers are borne SCANDINAVIAN REINDEER. hoofs enable the reindeer to traverse snow and swamps without sinking by both males and temaleS. J.ne The spreading

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antlers, as may be seen by the illustration, differ materially from those of the red deer, elk, and other species; the brow-tines, especially, are often much palmated. These animals are heavily built, short-legged, and, as beseems dwellers in a snowy habitat, provided with round, short, and spreading hoofs. For ages reindeer have been domesticated by the Lapps of Scandinavia, the Samoyeds, and other primitive races of Northern Europe and Asia. Trained to harness, and drawing a sledge, they traverse long distances, while their milk, flesh, and hides are of great importance to the people who keep them. The COMMON

or SCANDINAVIAN

REINDEER ranges from Norway through Northern Europe into Asia, though how far eastward is not yet accurately determined. It is interesting to note that these animals were once denizens of Britain, and so lately as the twelfth century the Jarls of Orkney are believed to have been in the habit of crossing to the mainland for the purpose of hunting them in the wilds of Caithness. Wild By permission of the New York Zoological Society. reindeer are still to WOODLAND CARIBOU. be found in the

This specimen has shed its horns, which are of the general type of those of the Scandinavian race. remoter parts of Norway, though, from much persecution, they are becoming comparatively scarce in most parts of the country. excellent accounts of sport with Mr. Abel Chapman, in his " Wild Norway," gives some

:these fine deer. Speaking of a good herd of twenty-one, discovered in Ryfylke, he says "Most of the deer were lying down, but both the big stags stood upright in dreamy, inert postures.... I now fully realised what a truly magnificent animal I had before me. Both in body and horn he was a giant, and his coat was no less remarkable; the neck was pure white, set off byand beneath it a shaggy mane hung down a foot in length. This white neck was the dark head in front and the rich glossy brown of his robe behind. Besides this the contrasting black and white bars on flanks and stern were conspicuously clean-cut and defined, and the long and massive antlers showed a splendid recurved sweep, surmounted by branch-like tines, all clean." For three long, agonising hours the stalker watched this noble prize, and then one of those lucky chances which occasionally gladden the hunter's heart occurred, and the reindeer approached within a hundred yards. "Half-a-dozen forward steps, and his white neck and dark shoulder were beautifully exposed. Already, ere his head had appeared, the rifle had been shifted over, and now the foresight dwelt lovingly on a thrice-refined aim. The '450 bullet struck to an inch, just where the shaggy mane joined the brown shoulder. The beast winced of hisall over, but neither moved nor fell. A moment's survey, and I knew by the swaying

s c 1 FANE PA] Photo by the Duchess of Bedford] [Woburn Abbey.

IMMATURE SCANDINAVIAN ELK,

The largest of all the Deer Tribe, and has antlers of an altogether abnormal type. 273 oo Or

of the World274 The Living Animals

head that he was mine." The weight of this big reindeer stag was estimated at 450 Ibs., or 32 stone. lie carried twenty-five points to his antlers, which measured 51 inches in extreme length. In addition to the common or Scandinavian reindeer, there are closely allied races, showing, however, slightly varying characteristics, found in Spitzbergen and Greenland. In North America, where only wild reindeer are found, these animals are known as CARIBOU. Here several

:; the WOODLAND CARIBOU ofsub-species are known among them, the NEWFOUNDLAND CARIBOU the mainland; and the BARREN-GROUND CARIBOU, found in the arctic wastes of the Far Northwest, towards the Polar Ocean.

THE ELK, OR MOOSE.

This gigantic creature, the largest of all the numerous tribe of deer, is found, in the Old World, in Northern Europe, Siberia, and Northern China. Its range extends for there is no real distinction between the elk of the Old and the New Worlds to Northern America, where it is always known as the MOOSE. Its transatlantic habitat runs from the mouth of the Mackenzie Kiver to the St. Lawrence. Wherever its abiding-place may be, it will be found that the elk is essentially a forest-loving creature, partial to the loneliest stretches of the woods and dreary marshes. Its fleshy, bulbous, prehensile muzzle shows plainly that the elk is a browsing beast, and not a grazing animal, like most other deer. The male carries vast palmated horns, 1 inch in span from tip to tip; this measurementmeasuring sometimes as much as 6 feet fine is from an American specimen in the possession of the Duke of Westminster. A Scandinavian bull will measure 18 hands at the withers and weigh as much as 90 stone, while the North American elk is said to attain as much as 1,400 Ibs. In colour the elk is a dark brownish grey; the neck, body, and tail are short; while the animal stands very high

,,

By permission of the New York Zoological Society.

FEMALE AMERICAN ELK, OR MOOSE.

The elk of the two hemispheres are so alike that they cannot be regarded as anything more than races of a single species.

The Deer Tribe 275

upon the legs. Under the throat of the male hangs a singular appendage, a sort of tassel of hair and skin, known to American hunters as the " bell." The build of the elk is clumsy, and the mighty beast entirely lacks the grace characteristic of so many others of the deer kind. It has in truth a strangely primeval, old-world aspect, and seems rather to belong to prehistoric ages than to modern times. In Scandinavia elk are hunted usually in two ways by driving, or with a trained dog held in leash. In the royal forests of Sweden great bags are made at these drives; and in the year 1885, when a great hunt was got up for the present King of

Photo by C. Reid] [ Wishaw, N.B. England, forty-nine elk were PARK BED DEEE. slain. Except during the The typical representative of the entire Deer Tribe. rutting-season these titanic deer are extremely shy and suspicious creatures, and the greatest precautions have to be taken in hunting them. of In Canada moose are often shot during the rutting-season by " calling," a rude horn birch-bark being used, with which the hunter simulates the weird, hoarse roar of the animals, as they call to one another, or challenge in the primeval woodlands and morasses of the wild North. Still-hunting or tracking spooring, as it would be called in South Africa is another is that practised by Indianand extremely fatiguing method; while yet another mode of hunting and half-breed hunters in winter, when, the sportsman being mounted on snow-shoes, the moose is followed, run into and shot in deep snow. In this sport the hunter has much the better of it. The moose, with its vast weight and sharp hoofs, plunges through the frozen snow-crust, over which the snow-shoes carry the biped easily enough, and, becoming presently exhausted, is shot without much difficulty. Elk usually run at a steady, slinging trot, and traverse extraordinary distances, apparently with little fatigue.

KED DEER.

the KED DEER, found in various We come now to a group of what are called typical deer, is now in theparts of the world. The red deer, which once roamed over much of Britain, wild state confined chiefly to the Highlands of Scotland, Exmoor, part of County Kerry in will standIreland, and various islands on the west coast of Scotland. A good male specimen about 4 feet or a little less at the shoulder, carry antlers bearing twelve or fourteen points, and weigh from 16 to 20 stone clean that is, with the heart, liver, and lungs taken out. The woodland stags of Perthshire, however, not infrequently reach 25 stone, while Mr. J. G. Millais mentions a stag, killed by Colonel the Hon. Alastair Fraser at Beaufort, Inverness-shire, which scaled 30 stone 2 Ibs. clean. This seems to be the heaviest British wild stag of modern times. The summer coat is short, shining, and reddish brown in hue; in winter the pelage is

thicker and rougher and greyish brown in colour. Stalking the red deer stag in its native left to the inhabitants of these islands.fastnesses is beyond all doubt the finest wild sport now

Mr. J. Gr. Millais, author of "British Deer and their Horns" and other works, himself a first-rate sportsman in many parts of the world, compares the style of shooting red deer in vogue forty or fifty years ago with that obtaining in the Highlands at the present day. "A of a typical day's sport in which hestalker in Black Mount, Argyllshire," he says, "told me took part some forty years ago. Fox Maule and Sir Edwin Landseer were the two rifles (they frequently stalked in pairs at that time), and, on the side of Clashven, Peter Robertson, the head forester, brought them within eighty yards of two exceptionally fine stags. Maule fired and missed, as did also Sir Edwin as the stags moved away; then, on a signal from Robertson, Peter McColl, the gillie, slipped the hounds the two best ever owned by the late Marquis of Breadalbane, and whose portraits are still preserved in the famous picture of ' The Deer Drive' and away they went in hot pursuit of the deer. An end-on chase now ensued, the line taken being due east down the great glen towards Loch Dochart, and at last the stalkers were brought to a standstill, being fairly exhausted both in wind and limb. At this moment, however, four dark spots, like small rocks, standing out at the point of a little promontory in the lake, attracted their attention, and, on drawing nearer, they saw, to their surprise, each of the big stags being held at bay by a gallant hound. A couple of shots then settled the business, and so ended what was then considered a grand day's sport. No doubt it was most exciting to see the struggle of bone and sinew between two such noble quadrupeds, but it was not rifle-shooting. To-day the gallant but disturbing deer-hound has given place to the cunning and obedient collie, and the success of the stalker depends, for the most part, on the accuracy of his rifle it." and his skill in using Here are a couple of sketches of modern Photo by W. P. Dando] [Regent's Park. : taken from Mr. Millais' own diary AN ASIATIC WAPITI. stalking " Wednesday, October 4th. Started for All the races of the wapiti are easily recognisable by the large fourth tine of the antlers and the short tail. the big corrie with McColl, and saw nothing this were till we got to the Eagle Hill. On three stags and about twenty hinds, the property of a magnificent fellow carrying one of the best heads I have ever seen on Black Mount. For some time McColl thought he was just left for stock purposes.a bit too good to shoot, for the very best in this forest are generally Finding, however,, that he was not Royal [a twelve-pointer], my companion agreed to a shot that is, if he got within shooting distance, which was not too likely, the Eagle Hill being ' airt ' fromone of those queer places where back eddies are carried down from almost every which the wind is blowing. this week, so far at any rate. Luck is apparently entirely my way ' The big stag was very kittle,' frequently roaring and keeping his hinds moving before him along the hillside, in the direction of another corrie running at right angles, the entrance to which, if reached, would checkmate us. A quick, stiff climb, and a dashing piece of stalking I had hardly goton the part of McColl, brought us in front of the herd only just in time, for