310 Deer and Antelope of North America 



of defeat ; the unfortunate, like the brave spirit 

 he must have been, suffered his mental and physi- 

 cal pains in silence. 



Like all the deer family at this season of the 

 year, they are very curious as well as very reck- 

 less, and frequently pay for it with their life. 

 Although retaining a certain amount of fear of 

 man, yet their proud spirit so dislikes to acknowl- 

 edge it at such a time that they will often stop in 

 plain view of him to exchange glances at short 

 range. 



So great, too, is the bull's curiosity at this sea- 

 son that he will seek out any unusual noise. Just 

 here I want to correct a very general impression 

 that the bull moose can be called by the use of 

 the birch-bark horn, in the belief that he is ap- 

 proaching a female. 1 No bull was ever half so 

 stupid ; such a thing is entirely unreasonable. 

 He is simply attracted by the unusual sound, and, 

 being exceedingly curious, endeavors to locate the 

 meaning of this strange thing in his home. The 

 pounding on a tree with a club by the Tahltan or 

 Kaska Indians in northwest British Columbia 

 (among the best moose hunters in America) or 

 pounding the willows with a dry shoulder blade 

 of the animal, by the Liard River Indians, will 



1 Mr. Stone's opinion on this subject differs from that of experi- 

 enced hunters. There is convincing evidence that the bull is deceived 

 into believing the horn call to be the call of the cow. — Editor. 



