174 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



to arouse the jealous wrath of the other bull"; another, ** You 

 must imitate the call of the cow to tempt the errant bull for- 

 ward"; another, *' It must be done with marvellous truthfulness 

 or the bull detects the fraud"; others maintain that any kind 

 of a noise will fetch the bull, so insane is he with wrath and 

 desire ; many say that moose-calling is confined to Maine and the 

 East, because elsewhere the Moose do not call; still others de- 

 clare that, from Canso to Yukon, the Moose call and are called. 



There is little doubt that all these views are founded on 

 actual observation. At the beginning of the calHng season the 

 bulls, full of amorous rage, will go anywhere at the slightest 

 suggestion of a cow-call. When, at length, the cows respond 

 and mating is about accomplished, they are ready to assail 

 any bull that suggests a disturbance of their joy. When 

 finally all are mated they no longer heed the call of another 

 cow, and their varied later behaviour, sometimes coming, some- 

 times indifferent, means simply that the caller has chanced on 

 an unmated bull, or else in a region where all are happy with 

 their mates. After this merry moon is over it is considered 

 useless to call for Moose. 



Apart from the various uncatalogued and uncomprehended 

 roars, bellows, grunts, and whines of the mating season, the 

 Moose has many other vocal expressions that serve to tell the 

 neighbours how he feels, or what he is thinking about. A 

 number of young Moose that I have been among and handled 

 uttered a soft whinnying sound when begging for bread. They 

 proved their training by nosing in the neighbourhood of my 

 pocket as they squealed. Again, the cow and the calf call to 

 each other in a variety of soft whines. 



MATING yhg Moose has long been pointed out as the only Deer that 



is strictly monogamous. The evidence for this is as follows: 

 There is no record of a bull Moose with a herd of cow Moose 

 in the mating season. No man ever saw two adult Moose dwell- 

 ing together in the mating season unless they were male and 

 female. A Moose that is mated will not reply to a calling cow, 

 call she never so tenderly. O exemplary Moose! 



