ELIZABETH CITY, a town, port of entry and the county-seat of Pasquotank
county, North Carolina, U.S.A., on the Pasquotank river, at the head of
navigation, 46 m. S. by E. of Norfolk, Virginia. Pop. (1890) 3251;
(1900) 6348 (3164 negroes); (1910) 8412. It is served by the Norfolk &
Southern, and the Suffolk & Carolina railways, and is on the Dismal
Swamp and Albemarle & Chesapeake canals. Elizabeth City is a winter
meeting-place for hunters. It is the seat of a state normal school for
negroes and of the Atlantic Collegiate Institute, is a trucking centre,
has shipyards, and has a large wholesale trade in clothing, groceries
and general merchandise; from it are shipped considerable quantities of
fish, cotton and lumber. The town is the port of entry of the Albemarle
customs district, but its foreign trade is unimportant. Among its
manufactures are cotton goods, iron, lumber, nets and twine, bricks, and
carriages and wagons. The oyster fisheries in the vicinity are of
considerable importance. Elizabeth City was settled in 1793, and was
first incorporated in the same year.
ELK, or MOOSE, the largest of all the deer tribe, distinguished from
other members of the _Cervidae_ by the form of the antlers of the males.
These arise as cylindrical beams projecting on each side at right angles
to the middle line of the skull, which after a short distance divide in
a fork-like manner. The lower prong of this fork may be either simple,
or divided into two or three tines, with some flattening. In the East
Siberian elk (_Alces machlis bedfordiae_) the posterior division of the
main fork divides into three tines, with no distinct flattening. In the
common elk (_A. machlis_ or _A. alces_), on the other hand, this branch
usually expands into a broad palmation, with one large tine at the base,
and a number of smaller snags on the free border; there is, however, a
phase of the Scandinavian elk in which the antlers are simpler, and
recall those of the East Siberian race. The palmation appears to be more
marked in the North American race (_A. m. americanus_) than in the
typical Scandinavian elk. The largest of all is the Alaskan race (_A. m.
gigas_), which is said to stand 8 ft. in height, with a span of 6 ft.
across the antlers. The great length of the legs gives a decidedly
ungainly appearance to the elk. The muzzle is long and fleshy, with only
a very small triangular naked patch below the nostrils; and the males
have a peculiar sac, known as the bell, hanging from the neck. From the
shortness of their necks, elks are unable to graze, and their chief food
consists of young shoots and leaves of willow and birch. In North
America during the winter one male and several females form a
"moose-yard" in the forest, which they keep open by trampling the snow.
Although generally timid, the males become very bold during the breeding
season, when the females utter a loud call; and at such times they fight
both with their antlers and their hoofs.
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