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Show 136 MR. II. «T. EL WES ON [Feb. 3, This rapid increase of an animal which, on account of its great size and conspicuous tracks, cannot escape unnoticed in an inhabited country, must be entirely attributed to the wise game-laws made by the Norwegian Government, and in most parts honestly observed by the most law-abiding and well-governed people I have ever met with. In former times the Elk, in Scandinavia, as in North America, was hunted down in winter on ski (the Norwegian form of snowshoe), and slaughtered for its meat by every peasant farmer, till it had almost been exterminated. When, however, a law was made that it could be hunted only in the month of September, which period was for a time somewhat extended in North Trondlijem, its numbers soon increased, and about 20 years ago attained such proportions that English and German sportsmen began to visit Norway to hunt Elk. The landowners in some districts then discovered that, instead of hunting themselves or paying Swedish hunters, who, from long experience, were more expert, to kill their Elk for them, the right of killing Elk, which is limited to one animal on each farm, had a letting value; and when many such rights are united so that a large tract of country can be reserved to the lessee, this value was worth a little trouble to maintain. The consequence has been that, though poaching and killing Elk out of season is not entirely unknown, yet it cannot be carried on extensively; and I have little doubt that the Elk will continue to thrive wherever the country is suitable. The statistics which I append show the numbers of bull and cow Elk which are known to have been legally killed in the various " Amts " or provinces of Norway in 1894, and the average for the previous five years, and may be taken as very nearly exact, though, according to some, the returns for the southern provinces are not so accurate as for the northern ones, and this record takes no account of those illegally killed. It will be seen that only four provinces of Norway (excluding Finmark), namely, Stavanger, North and South Bergenhus, and Romsdal, all of which are on the south-west coast and exposed to the warm and wet influence of the Gulf-Stream, are without E lk ; and it may be added that in those four provinces wild Reindeer are most numerous. North Trondlijem is before all the rest in numbers; and in this province I believe the size of the horns is or was also much larger on the average than in any of the southern districts (text-fig. 18, p. 134). It is said that the Elk is gradually extending its range northwards, and has appeared in the southern parts of the province of Nordland only in the last few years; and there seems to be no reason why it should not go still further, as in North America the Moose (which is so nearly allied to the Elk, that I do not think it can be looked on as more than a variety of that animal) is found in regions where the climate and food is certainly not more favourable to its habits than they seem to be in some parts of Nordland and Finmarken. The greater part of North Trondlijem and a large proportion of |
