TENTH ANNUAL REPORT. 211 



fear; but when he discovered us he slowly walked away, occa- 

 sionally stopping to look back at us ; he expressed no signs of haste 

 or fear. The old hunters, however, speak of them as ordinarily 

 very wary and difficult to stalk. They are evidently unfamiliar 

 with man, though accustomed to horses, and will often follow 

 horse trails to water holes. 



These moose often travel in small groups, and several times 

 we have seen their trails with those of bands of elk, though they 

 are rarely found in the country generally preferred by elk 

 (wapiti). 



The period of " rut " appears to be somewhat earlier than 

 among the Canadian animals, and takes place between the ist of 

 September and the ist of October. In so far as I have been able 

 to learn the animals seldom or never " call." Though I have 

 spent upward of nine weeks in their country from the last of 

 August into October I have never heard either the cow or bull give 

 " tongue," while old hunters familiar with the country and these 

 animals tell me that they have never heard a moose " call," and 

 most of them are very sceptical in regard to a call being given by 

 any moose. Apparently at least, they do not answer to the arti- 

 ficial " call " as do certain of the Canadian animals, though I am 

 not positive in regard to this, since I cannot profess to be at all 

 expert in calling moose. 



I am told that the young are dropped in JNIay, but my knowl- 

 edge on this point is entirely hearsay. The calves stay with the 

 cow for a full season, and not infrequently one finds a cow 

 attended in the fall by two calves, one a yearling and the other 

 born that spring. 



During the winter they remain about Moose Mountain, where 

 the snowfall is not particularly heavy and where the tops of the 

 mountains are often swept clear enough of the snow to permit 

 them to secure sufficient food. They apparently do not yard-up 

 during the winter. 



A great deal of my information regarding these animals has 

 been corroborated or secured in conversations with the sports- 

 men, ranchers, and prospectors of this country, and especially 

 from Dr. Sharp and Mr. Caleson, two well-known sportsmen of 

 Salt Lake, and from Bishop A. C. Wilson, of Marysville, Idaho, 

 who has lived in Fremont County for the past sixteen years, and 

 has frequently hunted and prospected in the mountains inhabited 

 by these moose. 



It seems to me most probable that these animals are closely re- 

 lated to those livinsf farther north in the Canadian Rockies. Mr. 



