Moose 169 



In mid-winter the bull Moose sheds his huge fan antlers, 

 for, notwithstanding the voice of the people (which is said to 

 be the voice of God), they are not used for shoveling snow all 

 winter. As the hunters say, when the sap begins to flow in the 

 trees the sap begins to run in the antlers of the Moose, which 

 begin to grow afresh in April. 



As the warm weather comes on the Moose are driven out 

 of the thick woods by the heat and flies. They now gather at 

 the lakes and beside large rivers, where they can enjoy a cool 

 bath every day, get what breeze there is moving, and revel in 

 the lily-pads that abound in such places. During the summer 

 months the Moose may be considered a semi-aquatic animal. 

 Male and female, old and young, thus frequent these summer 

 watering-places, but usually the bulls keep by themselves in 

 groups of two or even wander alone. Many of the guides say 

 that the pair of bull Moose commonly seen together in summer 

 are twin brothers. 



In three months the antlers are finished and the velvet 

 begins to shed ofi^, showing the white bony structure below. I 

 find, among the guides, a widespread notion that the Moose are 

 right and left-handed — that a Moose that always lies on his left 

 side will show the effects in a slight twist of the left antler and 

 so on. By September the antlers are sunburnt to a deep brown, 

 except the tips, which are white and polished from rubbing 

 them on the brush and trees. 



This brings us to the grand change in the Moose. " In the rut 

 fall the bull Moose's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love." 

 The physiological change, called puberty in man, now sets in 

 with the Moose. He is subject, indeed, to an annual puberty. 

 At other times he is exempt from the much-mingled pleasures 

 of the fatuous epoch, and free to mind his own business. 



Early in September the rut sets in, with an exaggera- 

 tion of everything that is male in his mental, moral, and 

 physical make-up. He devotes all his energies to the matter in 

 hand; he even neglects to eat; his all-dominant object now is 

 to find a mate. 



