WAPITI (from free Indian, wapitik, white deer). A large North American deer (('errus Conadensis), closely to the European reel deer (see DEER ) , but considerably exceeding it in size, being five feet in height at the shoulder and sometimes weighing 1000 pounds. It is a native of North America, and formerly was found all over the continent from the Carolinas to Alaska. lint it has been so persistently slaughtered that it is now confined mainly to the northern !lucky Mountain region in the United States, and north ward to the middle of Alberta. It is yellowish brown on the upper parts; the sides gray; a pale yellowish or white patch on each buttoek, bounded by a black line on the thigh; the neck, a mixture of red and black. with long, coarse, black hair, falling down from it in front like a dewlap: a black mark at each angle of the mouth. The hair is crisp and hard, but there is a soft down beneath it. The antlers are large, much like those of the stag, but the first branch bends down almost over the face. The wapiti is
usually called ells in America, although very different from the moose. (See ELK; MOOSE.) This line deer was an inhabitant of plains and prairies rather than of the forest regions. It feeds upon grass rather than upon leaves. Its general habits resemble those of the gregarious deer, and it was accustomed in the autumn in the Rest to gather in bands in the foothills of the mountains, where it spent the winter, paw ing down through the snow when necessary to get at the dried grass. These bands would join others until herds numbering many thousands would move about in company until spring. The animal was of great importance to the Indians as food, and hide MIS 11'404i as material for covering their lodges. See Plate of DELI{ or Nonni AMERICA; and consult authorities cited under DEER.