Here it may be mentioned that, a short time subsequent to our visit, the stags in the preserve, as I am informed by Count Potocki, became on a sudden unusually ferocious, attacking everything and everybody within reach. The head-keeper, Adam, was badly gored by the big wapiti, but happily recovered. Soon afterwards the same stag attacked and killed the only bull American bison, this being, of course, a great loss, as it will be difficult to find another mate for the one cow by which alone the species is for the moment represented in the preserve. [Illustration: WAPITI STAG REPOSING.] Perhaps the best way of conveying to the reader an idea of the manner in which the animals are encountered will be by recording the results of our first day’s walk and drive through the park. After walking a mile or so from the house, the first animal encountered was a fine wapiti stag quietly reposing in one of the large clearings, which allowed us to approach within a couple of hundred yards; soon after, we came across another wapiti stag, accompanied by two hinds of his own species and a couple of Persian red deer hinds. Some little distance farther and we encountered a considerable herd of wapiti, a Persian red deer hind, an Altai wapiti hind, and two hinds of the dark-coloured Yenisei wapiti. A couple of roebuck were next seen darting and leaping through the under-covert, and it was noticed that although one was in the red summer coat, with no white rump-patch, the other wore the olive winter dress, with a conspicuous white blaze. It seems difficult to account for this difference, unless it be that fawns of the year assume the winter dress very early or develop it at once. This is a point in regard to which definite information from sportsmen would be of great value and interest to naturalists. The next animal seen was a three-year-old bull elk lazily browsing the foliage of the aspens among which it stood, and where indeed it was almost invisible except to the practised eyes of the forester. This elk was recently brought from the estate of Prince S. Radziwill (brother-in-law of the Count) in Lithuania; and since it had experienced a long journey and had been turned out only a few months previous to our visit, it was comparatively tame, so that we were actually able to watch the curious movements of its flabby muzzle as the creature browsed. [Illustration: A BULL ELK.]