176 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



question, and one of great interest, but a point which I cannot 

 decide, for lack of evidence. The fact that the male does not 

 accompany the female while the calf is very young, rather goes 

 to prove that their marriage, like their puberty, lasts but a 

 brief and burning season, after which all is forgotten and for- 

 given, as the case may be, and every one is ready to begin over 

 again with a clean slate on the next autumn. 



THE The young bull Moose is tolerated by the step-father while 



YOUNG . . . . . 



BULL he is yet a calf; that is, he is allowed to be in the neighbourhood 

 at a respectful distance. But in his second year he begins to 

 have feelings of his own, and will fly from his new relative by 

 marriage if he knows what is good for his young skin. At this 

 time he is a "spike-buck," that is, his antlers (his second pair) 

 are forked into a couple of spikes. After his mother's recur- 

 rent honeymoon he may drift back to the family group and 

 thus come in a sense under the protection of his step-father till 

 the end of the winter. Spring moving scatters the family as 

 before, and September sees him fully equipped with flat horns, 

 lusty body, and ambitions — everything, indeed, needful to 

 replenish his corner of the earth except a mate, and personal 

 prowess to secure one. 



He may try a passage of arms with some big fellow who 

 is on the road to good luck, but usually he has to save himself 

 by flight into regions far away. At this season young bulls are 

 found roving over the country in most unlikely places. One 

 walked through the main street of Carberry, Manitoba, some 

 years ago. Another was shot out on the open prairie 20 miles 

 from Moose Mountain. Many similar cases are recorded 

 from Vermont and New Hampshire, and in each it seems to 

 have been a hopeful young bull Moose going out into the world 

 to seek his fortune. 



THE Meanwhile the pair that were left in possession of the 



WALLOW U U J • • 1 1 1- 1 • 



swamp have been disportmg themselves accordmg to their 

 minds. The bull Moose makes a wallow or *' soil " or *' gross," 

 as it is called in the Old World. At a chosen spot in the thicket 



