242 Natural History Bulletin. 



writer made every effort to successfully stalk the moose 

 in summer, but met with com.plete failure. The Indians 

 claim to be able to do this, but although the most noted 

 hunters were employed by me, they failed as complete- 

 ly as I did. Indeed, I cannot see how it is possible to trail 

 these wonderfully alert animals through the woods in summer, 

 without making some noise. The ground is usually boggy, 

 and even an Indian will make a noise when withdrawing his 

 foot from a mud-hole. Concealed dry twigs are everywhere, 

 and being hidden in the moss with which the ground is car- 

 peted, it is impossible to avoid cracking them, and then away 

 goes your moose! During the hottest weather in July, and 

 earl}' August, the moose are fearfully tormented by the large 

 horse-fly, called by the English speaking residents "bull dog." 

 These blood-thirsty insects are said at times to actually worry 

 the huge mammals to death. At such times the moose spend 

 the heat of the day in the water of the numerous lakes, 

 where they wade around up to their flanks in water, and 

 graze off the aquatic plants, which grow in great profusion 

 at the bottom of the lakes. This is a time when the moose 

 can be successfully hunted in summer. It is not a very diffi- 

 cult thing for an ordinarily skilled sportsman to get between 

 the game and the shore, and have the moose practically at his 

 mercy. Several were killed in this way at the time of our 

 visit, but, unfortunately, the Indians cut them up at once and 

 spoiled them for specimens. The man who acted as my cook, 

 a French Canadian by the name of Antoine, ^ told me a num- 

 ber of interesting facts about the moose, and as these facts 

 were generally corroborated by the Hudson's Bay men, they 

 are all well worth recording. 



The moose, although an animal of very acute hearing, 

 starting at the breaking of the smallest twig, has not yet 



^ Antoine, by the way, was one of the party that thirty years ago, under 

 the direction of Dr. Lea, succeeded in finding most of the relics of the lament- 

 ed Sir John Franklin and party. Many an intensely interesting yarn he had to 

 tell of that remarkable and historic expedition. 



