228 SEVENTH REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



Taking up this range in detail, the Nova Scotia moose are to-day distinctly 

 smaller than their kin in Ontario, but are very numerous when he settled character 

 of the country is taken into consideration. I have seen very few good antlers come 

 from this district, and in my opinion the race there is showing decided signs ot 

 deterioration. 



These remarks apply, but with less force, to New Brunswick and to Maine, where 

 the moose, though larger than the Nova Scotia animal, are distincth' inferior to 

 those of the region north of the Great Lakes. This is probably due to killing ofi 

 the big bulls, thus leaving the breeding to be done by the smaller and weaker bulls; 

 and, also, to inbreeding. 



In Maine the moose originally abounded, but by the middle of the last 

 century they were so reduced in numbers as to be almost rare. Thanks to very 

 efificient game laws, backed by an intelligent public opinion, moose have greatly 

 Increased during the last few years in Maine and also in New Brunswick. Their 

 habits have been modified, as will be seen later on, but as far as the number of 

 moose and deer are concerned, the protection of game in Maine has been a brilliant 

 example to the rest of the country. During the same period, however, caribou have 

 nearly vanished. 



Moose were found bj- the first settlers in New Hampshire and Vermont, appear- 

 ing occasionally, as migrants onlj% in the Berkshire hills of Massachusetts. In the 

 State of New York the Catskills appear to have been their extreme southern limit in 

 the east; but they disappeared from this district more than a century ago. In the 

 Adirondacks, or the North Woods, as they were formerly called, moose abounded 

 among the hard wood ridges and lakes. This was the great hunting country- of the 

 Six Nations. Here, too, many of the Canadian Indians came for their winter supply 

 of moose meat and hides. The rival tribes fought over these hunting grounds 

 much in the same manner as the northern and southern Indians warred for the 

 control of Kentucky. 



Going westward in the United States we find no moose until we reach the 

 northern peninsula of Michigan and northern Wisconsin, where moose were once 

 numerous. They are still abundant in northern Minnesota, where the country is 

 extremely well suited to their habits. Then there is a break, caused by the great 

 plains, until we reach the Rocky Mountains. They are found along the mountains 

 of western Montana and Idaho as far south as the northwest corner of Wj^oming in 

 the neighborhood of the Yellowstone Park, the Tetons and the Wind River Moun- 

 tains being their southern limit in this section. 



The moose of the western mountains are relatii;ely small animals with simple 



