THE GAME ANIMALS OF CANADA 55 
Habits.—The moose is essentially a forest-dwelling animal, 
frequenting the densest of our coniferous forests, and the 
woods of birch and poplar. In the summer it resorts more 
especially to the neighbourhood of swamps and secluded 
lakes and pools, and here it wades deep into the water to 
feed on the juicy leaves and stems of aquatic plants. It is 
distinctly a browsing animal, as the structure of its head 
and lips shows; and properly speaking it does not graze like 
other members of the deer family. Its normal food con- 
sists of the leaves, twigs, and bark of various trees, such as 
spruce, hemlock, birch, alder, willow, maple, etc., and also 
lichens. When deep snow covers the ground its movements 
are more restricted, and the well-trodden paths and areas 
that it forms in the snow constitute the well-known moose 
“‘vards.” 
In the fall the “‘rutting” season begins when the bulls, 
which during the summer have roamed about in solitary 
state, set forth to seek their mates. The deep guttural call 
or bellow that he utters as a call may be answered by the 
higher-toned reply of the cow, or a challenging grunt of a 
rival. In the latter case a fierce combat may not infre- 
quently follow, or the bull may be lured into an open spot 
and to his death by the closely simulated call produced by 
the birch horn of the hunter. At this time the bulls are 
‘bold; they lose their shyness of the summer and, bold in 
behaviour, they will sometimes fiercely attack an intruder, 
as many a hunter has reason to know. The bull mates 
with but a single cow, and is strictly monogamous. About 
the end of May the young are born. The cow produces 
one calf the first time, and usually two in subsequent years; . 
and, rarely, three are born. The young accompany the 
mother during the first year, and during the winter the 
moose family live together, the parents leaving the young 
during the early spring. 
The young bull moose grows his first pair of spike-like 
