the
West and a few other parts of America where there is some kind of
jungle and plenty of forest. A forest is a kind of jungle, only it has
more trees, and fewer thickets; but wild animals can live there just
the same.

_Elk and Other American Deer_

The biggest kind of deer in America is the _moose_; in fact, it is the
biggest kind of deer in the world. The second biggest is the _elk_; he
is nearly as big as the moose. Some people think that the moose and
the elk are exactly the same kind of deer, but that is not quite
correct. In this book I must not make it too hard for you to
understand, by telling you how they are different. So I shall tell you
all about the elk, as his picture is on page 109.

Once upon a time elks lived in all parts of America, but now they have
been killed off by hunters in most parts, and are found wild only in
the Far West.

The elk is a fine fellow. At the shoulder he is as tall as a man, and
is as heavy as six men. He lives in places where there is plenty of
forest--that is, plenty of trees. Why trees? Because he needs them in
winter--for then the bark is his food!

In summer he has plenty to eat--leaves, twigs, and grass. But when the
winter comes, and the leaves fall, and the ground is covered with
snow, the poor elk would starve and die, if he did not have at least
the bark of trees to eat. And very little bark he gets for many days
at a time.

Here I must tell you that some kinds of deer are among the most _hardy
animals_; that means that at times they can live on very little. There
is a kind of deer, called the _reindeer_, that lives in the frozen
North, where there is snow and ice almost all the year round; and the
reindeer has nothing more to eat for many days than a little bit of
moss or seaweed.

But there is another animal, not a deer, that is still more hardy: he
can go a whole week without eating or drinking--and do work all the
time! That seems very wonderful. But I shall tell you about that
animal in another chapter.

Now about the elk. His antlers are fine! You can see in the picture
how huge they are. And yet, would you believe it, he grew them in only
five months! I told you a little while ago that a deer throws off his
antlers every year, and grows new ones. I shall now tell you how the
elk does that.

[Illustration: Elk
Photograph of a group in the American Museum of Natural History, New York]

In the middle of the winter, the elk's antlers break off bit