The Moose 315 



told me that he had a pet moose calf from the 

 spring before. It was running loose in the forest, 

 and he told me it would often be gone for three 

 days at a time. It was not at home when I 

 reached the post, and he was very anxious for it 

 to come that I might see it. The second day at 

 noon, while we were eating dinner in the cabin, 

 the door standing wide open, we heard the jingle 

 of a bell, and the trader said, " There comes Jen- 

 nie." Sure enough she came as fast as her legs 

 could bring her (and she was not riding a bad set 

 of legs). She ran right in at the door, for she 

 was accustomed to coming into the cabin. The 

 moment she saw me, however, she looked at me 

 very hard, her eyes grew larger, she sniffed the 

 air, and she backed quietly out of the door. She 

 objected to strangers. She would play with the 

 trader, but would not let me get near her. I had 

 a splendid opportunity of studying the movements 

 of this animal, the way it carried its feet, legs, and 

 head, and many of its manoeuvres, all of which 

 were extremely interesting. Often when desir- 

 ing to play it would stand on its hind legs and 

 strike at its owner with its fore feet in a very 

 reckless and vicious manner. 



The young of the moose are dropped the latter 

 part of May. The first calving rarely ever pro- 

 duces more than one, but adult females very fre- 

 quently bring forth two, and I have heard of 



