g up the hills.

THE ELK OR WAPITI--THE NOBLEST OF ALL DEER

The Rocky Mountain Elk, or Wapiti, is the finest of all true Deer. The
cows weigh 400 to 500 pounds, the bulls 600 or 800, but occasionally
1000. At several of the hotels a small herd is kept in a corral for the
pleasure and photography of visitors.

The latest official census puts the summer population of Elk in the
Yellowstone Park at 35,000, but the species is migratory, at least to
the extent of seeking a winter feeding ground with as little snow as
possible, so that most of them move out as snow time sets in. Small
herds linger in the rich and sheltered valleys along the Yellowstone,
Snake and nearby rivers, but the total of those wintering in the Park
is probably less than 5,000.

STALKING A BAND OF ELK

[Illustration]

In the summer months the best places in which to look for these Deer are
all the higher forests, especially along the timber-line. I had an
interesting stalk after a large band of them among the woods of Tower
Falls in the June of 1897. I had found the trail of a considerable herd
and followed it up the mountain till the "sign" was fresh. Then I tied
up my horse and went forward on foot. For these animals are sufficiently
acquainted with man as a mischief-maker to be vigilant in avoiding him,
even in the Park. I was cautiously crawling from tree to tree, when out
across an open space I descried a cow Elk and her calf lying down. A
little more crawling and I sighted a herd all lying down and chewing the
cud. About twenty yards away was a stump whose shelter offered chances
to use the camera, but my present position promised nothing, so I set
out carefully to cross the intervening space in plain view of scores of
Elk; and all would have been well but for a pair of mischievous little
Chipmunks. They started a most noisy demonstration against my approach,
running back and forth across my path, twittering and flashing their
tails about. In vain I prayed for a paralytic stroke to fall on my
small tormentors. Their aggravating plan, if plan it was, they succeeded
in fully carrying out. The Elk turned all their megaphone ears, their
funnel noses and their blazing telescopic eyes my way. I lay like a log
and waited; so did they. Then the mountain breeze veered suddenly and
bore the taint of man to those watchful mothers. They sprang to their
feet, some fifty head at least, half of them with calves by their sides,
and away they dashed wi