204 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE.

same round his wrists. They approach the herd by degrees,
raising their legs very slowly, but setting them down somewhat
suddenly, after the manner of a deer, and always taking care
to lift their right or left feet simultaneously. If any of the
herd leave off feeding to gaze upon this extraordinary phe-
nomenon, it instantly stops, and the head begins to play its
part by licking its shoulders, and performing other necessary
movements. In this way the hunters attain the very centre
of the herd without exciting suspicion, and have leisure to
single out the fattest. The hindmost man then pushes for-
ward his comrade’s gun, the head is dropped, and they both
fire nearly at the same instant.”
The Moose The Moose or Elk is the largest of the Deer
or Elk. kind, and often attains to and even exceeds the
size and bulk of the largest horses. He is less graceful
than other members of his family, having a short thick neck,
necessary perhaps to sustain his huge antlers, which some-
times reach five feet in length and weigh as much as sixty
pounds. He escapes the torment of insects by taking to the
water, in which he is an expert swimmer. Like the other
animals of the Deer kind he sheds his horns annually. Year
by year these huge growths increase in breadth and in the
number of branches they bear, until there are sometimes as
many as twenty on each horn. He is docile and easily
tamed, and has been broken to run in harness. The Elk
occupies much the same geographical area as the reindeer,
though not travelling so far north.
The Fallow Lhe Fallow Deer (Dama vulgaris) is smaller
Deer and the than the stag, but similar to it in colour, form,
Roebuck. and habit. It is this species which is domesti-
cated and kept in the parks of the wealthy in England.
Fallow Deer often quarrel among themselves over rights of
pasturage, the herd dividing into two and engaging in a pitched
battle for the possession of the disputed land. The Roebuck
is smaller than the Fallow Deer, his height being about two