The Moose, 



2 1 7 



faces. As they grow old they are apt to become danger- 

 ous, and even their play takes the form of a mock fight. 

 Some lumbermen I knew on the Aroostook, in Maine, 

 once captured a young moose, and put it in a pen of logs. 

 A few days later they captured another, somewhat 

 smaller, and put it in the same pen, thinking the first 

 would be grateful at having a companion. But if it was 

 it dissembled its feelings, for it promptly fell on the 

 unfortunate new-comer and killed it before it could be 

 rescued. 



During the rut the bulls seek the cows far and wide, 

 uttering continually throughout the night a short, loud roar, 

 which can be heard at a distance of four or five miles ; the 

 cows now and then respond with low, plaintive bellows. 

 The bulls also thrash the tree trunks with their horns, 

 and paw big holes in soft ground ; and when two rivals 

 come together at this season they fight with the most 

 desperate fury. It is chiefly in these battles with one 

 another that the huge antlers are used ; in contending 

 with other foes they strike terrible blows with their fore 

 hoofs and also sometimes lash out behind like a horse. 

 The bear occasionally makes a prey of the moose ; the 

 cougar is a more dangerous enemy in the few districts 

 where both animals are found at all plentifully ; but next 

 to man its most dreaded foe is the bigf timber wolf, that 

 veritable scouro-e of all animals of the deer kind. Ag-ainst 

 all of these the moose defends itself valiantly ; a cow with 

 a calf and a rutting bull being especially dangerous 

 opponents. In deep snows through which the great deer 

 flounders while its adversary runs lightly on the crust, a 



