The Living Animals of the World, Volume I: Mammals

Photo by the Duchess of Bedford] [Woburn Abbey.

AMERICAN WAPITI.

The giant deer of the Rocky Mountains, formerly very plentiful, now scarce, 277

into position when the first few hinds moved past a hundred yards below us. They were very uneasy and highly suspicious, but fortunately did not stop; and in another moment, to my joy, the big stag came slowly behind them, and offered a fair broadside in the very spot where I should have wished him to stand. The bullet took him through the ribs, certainly a trifle too far back, but he gave in at once, and roiled 150 yards down the hill, fortunately without hurting his horns. A really fine Highland stag in his prime; weight, 16 stone 2 lbs., with a good wild head of ten points, and good cups on the top.” “ Thursday, October 5th. —We negotiated the stiff climb, and McLeish, leaving me behind a rock on the summit, returned some distance to signal directions to the pony-man. He came back just as the stag returned roaring down the pass he had ascended; and as the mist was blotting out the landscape, I feared he would come Fe. ~-—-.;, right on to us without being hoto by Mr. W. Rau] [Philadelphia, mun OANaw kerri: seen, but, as luck would have it, he stopped and recommenced bellowing within seventy yards. I never heard a stag make such a row, but nothing of him could we see. It was most exciting, lying flat on a slab of rock, hoping devoutly that the mist would rise, if only for a few seconds. The tension had grown extreme, when there was a momentary lift in the gloom, and,I made out the dim forms of the deer just as a big hind, which I had not noticed, ‘bruached’ loudly within twenty yards of us. The outline of the stag was barely visible when, after carefully aiming, I pressed the trigger, knowing that a moment later there would be no second chance. At the shot the deer at once disappeared, but I felt sure I had hit him, and, on following the tracks for some fifty yards, there he lay as dead as a door-nail. Weight, 13 stone 6 lbs.; a wild head of ten points; thin, and evidently that of a deer on the decline.”; In England the wild red deer are hunted with stag-hounds on Exmoor, and first-rate sport is obtained on the great moorlands of Somerset and Devon. During the last fifty years the deer have much increased in numbers, and no less than three packs—the Devon and Somerset, Sir John Heathcoat-Amory’s, and Mr. Peter Ormrod’s—are now engaged in hunting The dark head, fore-quarters, and under-parts, so distinctive of the wapiti, are here well displayed.

The Deer Tribe 279

them. In the five years ending in 1892, 276 deer were killed by the Devon and Somerset hounds. is dexterously The young of the red deer are in Europe usually dropped in June. The fawn concealed by the hind amid the heather, and is left in concealment during the day. Scrope, a great authority on these animals, states that the hind induces her fawn to lie down by pressure of the nose: " It will never stir or lift up its head the whole of the day, unless you I have often done; it lies like a dog, with its nose to its tail. Thecome right upon it, as hind, however, although she often separates herself from the young fawn, does not lose sight of its welfare, but remains at a distance to windward, and goes to its succour in case of an attack of the wild cat or fox, or any other powerful vermin."

On the Continent far finer examples of red deer are to be found than in the British Isles, and the antlers and records of weights preserved at the Castle of Moritzburg in Saxony, and elsewhere, show that two hundred years ago the stags of Germany were far superior even to those of the present day, which are much heavier and afford finer trophies than do the Highland red deer. Even in Germany, however, marked deterioration has taken place during in 1646 weighedthe last two centuries. A stag, for example, killed by the Elector of Saxony not less than 61 stone 11 Ibs.; while from the Elector's records between 1611 and 1656 it appears that 59 stags exceeded 56 stone, 651 exceeded 48 stone, 2,679 exceeded 40 stone, and 4,139 exceeded 32 stone. These figures are given by Mr. W. A. Baillie-Grohman, a " "distinguished sportsman, in a very interesting chapter contributed to the Big Game Shooting volumes of the Badminton Library.

This deterioration among the red deer of the forests of Central and Northern Europe is, however, not traceable among the red deer of the wild mountainous regions of Austria-Hungary

By permission of the New York Zoological Society.

AMERICAN WAPITI.

In the United States this species is universally miscalled the Elk.

the World280 The Living Animals of

and South-eastern Europe. Here, at the present day, stags of enormous size and weight are still to be found. In the Carpathian Alps, for example, red deer stags are still to be shot scaling more than 40 stone (clean) in weight. Climate and feeding have, of course, much to do with the weight of stags and the size and beauty of their antlers. The Carpathian stags have enormous range, rich food, and, as Mr. Baillie- Grohman points out, are suffered during the summer to " make undisturbed raids upon the rich agricultural valleys... the feudal sway exercised by the great territorial magnates permitting the deer to trespass upon the crops with impunity, and thus grow to be

Photo by W. P. Dando] [Regent's Park. the lustiest of their race." ALTAI WAPITI. In addition to the British This is one of several Asiatic forms of the wapiti. Islands, the red deer of Europe is found on the island of Hitteren on the western coast of Norway, in the south of Sweden, and in Germany, Kussia, France, Spain, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, and Greece.

In Corsica and Sardinia a local and smaller race is found, probably closely allied to the is somewhat smaller than its first cousin of Europe,stag of North Africa. The BARBARY STAG is "aand carries antlers which usually lack the second, or bez, tine. The colour of this stag dark sepia-brown, a little lighter and greyer on the back. Faint yellowish spots can occasionally be distinguished on the fur in the adults," says Sir Harry Johnston. The hinds are of the same colour as the stags, but lack the grey tint on the back. These fine deer are found in Algeria and Tunis, their habitat being chiefly in pine and cork forests. They are found also in parts of Morocco, near the frontiers of Algeria and Tunis, where their range extends from near the Mediterranean to the verge of the Sahara Desert. Formerly the Barbary stag was hunted by the Arabs on horseback by the aid of greyhounds. In Tunis, where it is protected by the French, it is now fairly abundant.

THE MARAL AND KASHMIR STAG.

The CASPIAN RED DEER, or MARAL, is a magnificent sub-species, incomparably the finest representative of the red deer species. Standing about 4 feet 6 inches at the shoulder, a good stag will weigh as much as 40 stone clean, in exceptional specimens probably a good deal more. The range of this noble beast includes the Caspian provinces of North Persia, Transcaucasia, the Caucasus, and the Crimea. There can be little doubt that the great stags shot in the Galician Carpathians are Caspian red deer, and not the ordinary red deer of Western Europe. The red deer of Turkey is, too, no doubt referable to this sub-species.

Continuing our survey of typical deer, we come to the KASHMIR STAG, which is a magnificent beast, standing as much as 4 feet 4 inches at the shoulder, and carrying antlers approaching the red deer type, which measure in fine specimens from 45 to 48 inches. The Kashmir stag, often miscalled Barasingh by Indian sportsmen, makes its home in the forest regions of the north side of the Kashmir Valley, ranging chiefly on altitudes of from 5,000 to 12,000 feel.

The Deer Tribe 281

The summer coat is rufous; in winter the pelage is of a darkish brown. The Yarkand stag is an apparently allied species, found in the forests bordering on the Yarkand or Tarim River.

Two more stags close the list of those Asiatic deer which approximate more or less closely to the red deer type. These are the SHOU, or SIKHIM STAG, and THOROLD’S DEER, concerning neither of which animals is much known at present. The shou, of which only the head has yet been brought to England, appears to be a very large stag, in size approximating to the gigantic wapiti. The antlers are very large, extending to as much as 55 inches over the outer curve. So far as is at present known, this great deer is found in the country “north of Bhutan and the valley eastward of Chumbi, which drains northward into the Sangpo.” No European hunter, it is believed, has ever yet levelled a rifle or even set eyes on this noble deer.

In England Thorold’s deer is known from two specimens shot by Dr. W. G. Thorold, during a journey across Tibet, at an elevation of about 13,500 feet. The high Tibetan plateau and other adjacent parts of Central Asia form the habitat of this species. In size Thorold’s deer is about on a level with the Kashmir stag: the coat is dark brown; the antlers are distinctive in their backward curve, in the lack of the bez tine, and their flattened appearance. The muzzle and chin are pure white, as is the inner surface of the ears.

WAPITI.

WAPITI are the giants of the red deer group, carrying enormous antlers, and attaining as much as 1,000 lbs. in weight. The true wapiti of North America, known in that country chiefly by the local name of Elk, carry by far the finest and the heaviest heads of any of the typical deer kind. Mr. Rowland Ward, in his book “Records of Big Game,” gives the length of antlers of a twelve-pointer shot in the Olympic Mountains, Washington State, as 70 inches over the outer curve; while another specimen, also a twelve-pointer, taken from a wapiti shot in Wyoming, measures 66 inches. Occasional heads bear as many as 17, 19, and even 20 tines, or points, but from 12 to 14 points are more usual in fine average heads. A good stag will stand from 5 feet 4 inches to 5 feet 8 inches at the shoulder. Magnificently shaped, splendid in form and bearing, as in the size of its antlers, a more lordly creature than the stag wapiti does not pace the earth.

“The wapiti,” says Colonel Theodore Roosevelt in “The Encyclopædia of Sport,” “is highly polygamous, and during the rut the master bulls gather great harems about them and do fierce battle with one another, while the weaker bulls are driven off by themselves. At this time the bulls are comparatively easy to approach, because they are very noisy, incessantly challenging one another by night and day. Settlers and hunters usually speak of their challenge as ‘whistling,’ but this is a very inadequate description. The challenge consists of several notes, first rising and then falling. Heard near by, especially among unattractive surroundings, it is not particularly impressive, varying in tone from a squeal to a roar, and ending with grunts; but at a little