HISTORY OF VERMONT. 99 



Th e largest animal which is known in Ver- 

 mont is the Moose. It seems to be of the same 

 species as the Elk ; and in its general form, it re- 

 sembles the horse. His head is large, the neck 

 short ; with a thick, short, and upright mane, 

 the eyes are small, the ears are a foot long, 

 very broad, and thick ; under the throat, there 

 is a fleshy protuberance ;tlie nostrils are large; 

 the upper lip square, and hangs over the lower. 

 His horns are palmated, and when fully grown 

 are about four or five feet from the head to the 

 extremity : There are several shoots or branch- 

 es to each horn, which generally extend about 

 six feet in width from each other. The horns 

 weigh from thirty to fifty pounds, and are shed 

 every year. The hoofs of the Moose are cloven ; 

 his gait, is a long shambling trot ; his course, 

 very swift, and straight. When he runs, the 

 ratling of his hoofs, is heard at a considerable 

 distance ; in miry places, his hoofs are spread 

 several inches from one another ; and it is v/ith 

 the greatest ease, that he leaps over the highest 

 of our fences. The Moose is generally of a 

 grey, light brown, or mouse colour. The food 

 of this animal is grass, shrubs, the boughs and 

 bark of trees, especially the beech, which they 

 seem to prefer above all others, and a species of 

 inaple which is called moose wood. In sum- 

 mer, they keep pretty much in families. In the 

 winter, they herd together to the number of 

 twenty or thirty, in a company : They prefer 

 the coldest places ; and when the snow is deep, 

 they form a kind of yard, consisting of several 

 acres,, in which they constantly trample down 

 the snow, that they may more easily range 



