The calves are born from May to July, and are spotted during the first six months. During the first year the antlers are merely two straight spikes, called “dag antlers.” As in all members of the Deer Family, the antlers are shed every year—which to many persons is almost beyond belief. Any person who visits a zoological garden in midsummer will see that the old antlers have dropped off bodily, just below the burr, and that new antlers, covered with hair, soft, full of blood, and with club-like “points,” have sprung up like mushrooms in place of the old ones. In supplying the great drain on the system necessary to support this remarkable growth, the Elk grows thin, and the fear of hurting his tender young antlers makes him quite timid and inoffensive. He is no longer the tyrant of the herd, and a constant menace to his keepers. At this point it is not amiss to call attention to the differences between _horns_ and _antlers_. A _horn_ is a hollow sheath, growing over a bony core, and except in the case of the prong-horned antelope, is never shed. Horns are worn by both sexes of all bison, buffaloes, cattle, antelope, sheep, and goats. An _antler_ is of solid bone throughout, growing from the skull; it is shed every year close to the skull, and quickly renewed. Usually antlers have several branches. They are worn by nearly all male members of the Deer Family—moose, elk, caribou, deer, etc., and also by the female caribou. The prongs on an antler are no index of the wearer’s age. Some of the finest and most massive elk antlers have only twelve or fourteen points. During August and September the hairy covering, or “velvet,” of new antlers is rubbed off against trees and bushes. This period is quickly followed by the mating season, during which the neck of the bull becomes unusually large, and often the animal becomes dangerous. Although the Elk is essentially a timber-loving animal, it also wandered far into the plains bordering the Rocky Mountains on the east—until driven from them by man. The ideal home of this animal is the timbered foothills of our western mountains, up to 8,000 feet. Although once found from Virginia and New York to Oregon, and from northern Manitoba to the Gulf of Mexico, it is now numerous only in and adjacent to the Yellowstone Park, in central Colorado, where it is well protected, and in western Manitoba. The number of Elk in the National Park is variously estimated at from 10,000 head to a much larger number. In a wild state, the Elk feeds on grasses, weeds, and the leaves and twigs of various trees and shrubs. Of all American deer, it is the most easy to acclimate and breed in captivity. Large herds are now being maintained and bred in numerous private game preserves in New Hampshire, New York, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and elsewhere. About 200 head have been released in the Adirondacks.