172 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



The latter is what happened in the case described by 

 Edward E. FHnt, whose account of moose-caUing is one of the 

 best I ever read: 



"On one occasion [he says],^" when the conditions were 

 favourable, I decided on calling one night, though the guide 

 protested that at best only an uncertain shot would be obtained. 

 We approached close to the stand selected by canoe, well 

 supplied with blankets, and were soon comfortably established, 

 sheltered by a spruce growing near the centre of a small marshy 

 opening in the timber. The first call was made at ten o'clock, 

 when the nearly full moon showed above the tree-tops. The 

 answer was immediate and unmistakable. The Oh-ah — oh-ah 

 — oh-ah of an old bull was as distinct and clear as possible. 

 All was quiet for twenty minutes, when his approach began with 

 calling at every step. This approach, calling, and stopping to 

 listen, occurred many times in the next two hours, combined 

 with much thrashing by the antlers, sounding, the guide said, 

 like a man falling with a canoe on a rough portage. It was 

 now full moonlight, the moon was high and the night unusually 

 light; the air still and frosty, the Moose only 200 yards away, 

 as revealed by the tracks the following morning. Any moment 

 might afford the shot. Then the squalling call of a young cow, 

 preceded by the deep notes of the bull, rang out sharp and 

 clear. They remained near us perhaps half an hour, 

 and when heard a second time were fully a mile distant, and 

 an hour had elapsed since the meeting. While they were close 

 at hand the bull challenge note brought back a short, hoarse, 

 angry response, some thrashing with the antlers, and no more. 

 * * * Several times I have heard a cow call, usually at 

 sundown. In the bull call — oh-ah — the first sound of the 

 vowel o is slightly prolonged, is clearly pronounced, and the 

 short second sound of the vowel u is given in the last note of 

 the call; accent and inflection can hardly be described. The 

 cow call varies, usually consisting of three notes, the second 

 one greatly prolonged and possessing the greatest volume of 

 sound. Moo-waugh-yuh expresses the sound to me, and 



^° Forest and Stream, June i, 1895, p. 442. 



