NOTES ON THE HABITS OF THE MOOSE IN THE PAR NORTH OP 

 BRITISH AMERICA IN 1865. 



BY 

 J. G. LOCKHART.* 



The Moose is common over the whole country as far north as the 

 borders of the barren grounds. In the valley of the Yukon, and on 

 the west side of the Eocky Mountains, Moose are particularly numer- 

 ous, and continue so westward to Bering Strait. There are partic- 

 ular localities, however, where Moose are rarely, if ever, seen. For in- 

 stance, so far as I have heard, they never approach the shores of Hud- 

 son's Bay near York factory. They are very rarely killed in the vicinity 

 of Fort Eae, although they are quite numerous at Big Island and along 

 this side of the lake. 



The females have one or two young at a time. They have sometimes, 

 but very rarely, been killed with three young inside ; but no one, Indian 

 or white, that I have known, ever saw a female followed by three suck- 

 lings or yearlings. For this I have never heard a reason assigned. 

 Since the female has four teats giving milk, one would suppose that 

 she might suckle as many as three young. 



The food of the Moose consists of willows, small birch-trees and 

 shrubs, and also of grass and hay. Sometimes two or three will pass 

 an entire winter near certain small lakes or large grassy swamps, in 

 which they feed, scraping off the snow with their feet. In winter, when 

 no water is to be had, they eat snow freely. In winter also the females 

 are most sought after, because they are the fattest. In summer the 

 male is best for the same reason. In fall, when the females are rutting, 

 the males become very emaciated. 



There are various modes of hunting the Moose, detailed accounts of 

 which would be, I fear, too tedious. The first and most usual way is 

 to approach the animals on snow-shoes or on foot, as only a hunter 



* The manuscript of this paper was received from Mr. Lockhart iu 1865, while he 

 ■was an oflScer of the Hudson Bay Company, of Loudon, and has been preserved in the 

 archives of the Smithsonian Institution. Between 1860 and 1870 Mr. Lockhart made 

 many valuable contributions to the National Museum, including insects, birds, mam- 

 mals, and fossils from Mackenzie River, Alaska, Great Slave Lake, and Hudson Bay 

 Territory. For more than thirty years the Hudson Bay Company has zealously co- 

 operated with the Smithsonian Institution in increasing the ethnological and natural- 

 history collections of the National Museum. The objects thus received from Mr. 

 Robert MacFarlane, Mr. Lockhart and other agents of the company have added 

 greatly to our scientific knowledge of British North America. 



Prcceedings National Museum, Vol. XIII— No. 827. 



305 

 Proc. N. M. 90 20 



