210 NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



In going to and from the feeding grounds and into the cafions 

 for water these moose strangely select rocky passes and gullies 

 rather than the wooded and gentler declines. One often finds them 

 choosing for their trails routes which seem impassable for an 

 animal of the size and build of this moose. Perhaps it suffices 

 to say that they go by preference where a well-shod and trained 

 western horse cannot be driven. In one case I watched a young 

 moose come down to water and return, deliberately selecting 

 the steep dry bed of a narrow and rocky gully, though on either 

 side there was a gentle slope covered by open timber. Their 

 agility in climbing over bowlders and in going down steep de- 

 clines and through narrow passages is almost incredible. They 

 are rapid travellers, usually walking, increasing to a fast, awk- 

 ward lope when alarmed. I do not think that they travel either 

 so frequently or so far during the night as do the Canadian 

 moose. 



The beds are usually found either in the low brush where the 

 moose have been feeding, generally in some open place, or in 

 small dense thickets of pine near the summit or high up on the 

 mountainside. 



In general intelligence the animals appear to equal the Ca- 

 nadian moose, with which I have had experience. By still hunt- 

 ing one has the greatest difficulty in approaching them, but they 

 seem to be frightened more by the scent than by the sight of 

 man, and they occasionally exhibit the most amusing curiosity. 

 We followed a band of three, a cow, bull, and yearling calf, for 

 nearly a week, and though we did our best we were unable to 

 get a fair sight of them. We took special care that they should 

 not get our scent, and they stayed in the locality throughout the 

 entire week. Several times I was convinced that they saw us, 

 and from the location and character of their tracks I am certain 

 that they purposely watched us through the greater part of one 

 day while we were tracking them. Judging from the trail, when 

 they finally got our " wind " they made off for the Yellowstone 

 Park in great haste and did not return to their regular haunts 

 while we remained in the country. On the contrary, a single 

 bull stayed for over five days within a mile of our camp of four 

 people and seven horses. One night, evidently attracted by curi- 

 osity, he came within a few yards of camp. This animal was 

 subsequently found to be a well-developed adult which had been 

 summering in this locality. One day at 10.30 in the morning a 

 young bull came down from the moimtain directly into our caiion, 

 evidently making for the horses, of which he appeared to have no 



