74 THE DEER OF AMERICA. 



Under other conditions the keen senses of smell and hearing 

 make it difficult to approach the Moose, and the sagacity with 

 which he eludes his enemies and the endurance with which he 

 flees from them makes his pursuit even with firearms a difficult 

 and laborious affair. 



FORM AND SIZE. 



In form the Moose is an ungainly animal ; short body, a very 

 short tail and neck with a prodigiously long, ugly head, with a 

 projecting nose or upper lip, which give the animal a revolting 

 look. He has enormous ears, short spreading palmated. antlers, 

 and very long legs, to which he is indebted for his great height, 

 which some authors have stated has sometimes exceeded eight 

 feet. It is safe to say, without the fear of exaggerating, that they 

 sometimes attain a height of six feet at the wethers, or even more 

 in extreme cases. 



The avei'age weight of the adult male Moose may be given as 

 seven hundred pounds, while I think the statement well authen- 

 ticated that specimens of twice that weight have been killed. 



The male Moose, and sometimes the female as well, is fur-* 

 nished with a pendulous appendage under the throat. This may 

 vary in length from four to ten inches on different individuals. 

 It is covered with long coarse black hairs. Its diameter outside 

 the hairs is about one fourth its length. This by some has been 

 supposed to be of a glandular structure, but on examination it is 

 found to be simply dermal, without any muscular tissue. The 

 one I dissected was five inches long, without the hairs, and half 

 an inch in diameter ; simply a round piece of skin of uniform 

 bigness its whole length, thickly set with the coarse hairs all 

 around. These occupy a descending position all the way. They 

 are quite firm, elastic, and enduring, like those of the mane of 

 the horse, and probably are not shed with the rest of the coat, 

 spring and fall. This hell., as it is called by the hunters, is not 

 found on the young male, and disappears when the animal gets old 

 and his vigor and vitality are on the decline, so that it is in gen- 

 eral confined to the male Moose in the prime of life, although as 

 stated it is in rare instances found on the females. I will sug- 

 gest, without the authority of positive information, that these 

 females would, upon examination, be found to be exceptionally 

 vigorous. 



I am not prepared to offer any conjecture as to the purposes 

 of this appendage, — which after all seems to be transitory, — in the 



