342 A BOOK-LOVER'S HOLIDAYS 



gallop or bound for a dozen leaps, and under 

 sudden fright from an enemy near by even the 

 biggest moose will sometimes break into a gal- 

 lop which may last for several rods. More 

 often, even under such circumstances, the 

 animal trots off; and the trot is its habitual, 

 and, save in exceptional circumstances, its only, 

 rapid gait, even when charging. 



As the cow and her young ones stood in the 

 water or on the bank it was impossible not to 

 be struck by the conspicuously advertising char- 

 acter of the coloration. The moose is one of 

 the few animals of which the body is inversely 

 countershaded, being black save for the brown- 

 ish or grayish of the back. The huge black 

 mass at once attracts the eye, and the whitish 

 or grayish legs are also strikingly visible. The 

 bright-red summer coat of the white-tail deer 

 is, if anything, of even more advertising quality; 

 but the huge bulk of a moose, added to its black- 

 ness, makes it the most conspicuous of all our 

 beasts. 



Moose are naturally just as much diurnal as 

 nocturnal. We found them visiting the lakes 

 at every hour of the day. They are so fond of 

 water as to be almost amphibious. In the 

 winter they feed on the buds and twig tips of 

 young spruce and birch and swamp-maple; and 



