124 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. CHAP. vi.i. 



Formerly the moose* was found as low down as the 

 Bersiamits Eiver, about 230 miles below Quebec. These 



only as I am acquainted with it in this State (Maine), other latitudes causing 

 some slight variation in its habits. When the snows have left the ground 

 entirely bare, which in the favourite haunts of the moose happens about 

 the middle of May, they leave their winter haunts and approach the 

 marshes, ponds, and rivers, where they come to search for their summer 

 food, consisting of all the various aquatic plants which flourish in this 

 region. Their favourite food, however, is the water-lily and rush, in all 

 their varieties, and at this season they crop them, as soon as they appear, close 

 to the bottom, frequently holding their heads under water a minute or 

 eighty seconds, and often wading in water so deep that when they put their 

 heads down under the surface to obtain the small lily-leaves, or to dig up 

 the root of the plant (which they often eat at this season) before the leaves 

 are plentiful, only a portion of the back is visible. About this time the 

 females go apart, seeking the most impenetrable thickets that border on or 

 near the water, and there bring forth their young : those of three years old 

 and upwards almost invariably producing two still I have occasionally, but 

 very rarely, seen and known three at a birth : those of two years old never 

 produce more than one. They shed their coats of long rough hair, too, at 

 this period, and are soon covered with short, smooth, and fine hair, of a dark- 

 brown colour, which, however, soon becomes a jetty glossy black on the 

 sides and back, and grey on the legs, with the exception of one variety of 

 animal, which is of a grey colour, and which is now very scarce here. As 

 the season advances, the moose frequent the water still more, and remain in 

 it longer at a time. In May or early in June they seldom stay in it more 

 than half an hour at once, but in July and August they sometimes remain 

 in the water several hours, and also frequent the waters very much during 

 the night, especially in hot, dry, sultry weather, or thunderstorms, which 

 they seem particularly to delight in, swimming back and forth, apparently 

 in a high state of enjoyment. During these visits to the water, the female 

 secretes her young with great care, to protect them from the ferocity of the 

 old males who would destroy them. For this purpose they commonly 

 select a very dense clump of large bushes, or a spruce or fir thicket, which, 

 from its density, prevents the male from reaching them on account of his 

 horns, which generally sprout in April. They grow rapidly, and are 

 very tender and easily hurt at this time. By September the horns are out of 

 the velvet, and have acquired hardness, and towards the close of this month 

 the moose leave the water for two or three weeks, and resort to the moun- 

 tains. At this period the males are frequently very fat (I have killed them 

 with nearly three inches in thickness of fat on the rump), and are often very 

 fierce and savage, sometimes even attacking the hunter ; but in the course of 



* Cervus Alces. 



