152 NOVA SCOTIA. 



the water after his prey. Sometimes black duck may be 

 heard quacking and shaking their wings, and an odd fox 

 yelping ; and where beaver abound they make known 

 their existence by hitting the water great whacks with 

 their tails. After sunset most of these sounds cease, and 

 the silence is most profound. .The ears then get very 

 sharp, and detect the slightest sound of an approaching 

 beast. It is very annoying, but it often happens that the 

 moose, although quite close, will not come out to the lake 

 till after dusk, when it is too dark to see. I have seen a 

 moose's reflection on the water, and yet have been unable 

 to discover the beast, so profoundly dark is the background 

 of woods. 



The old bulls cast their horns early in November, but 

 the young ones retain theirs much longer, sometimes till 

 the month of March. In July the horns are soft and 

 velvety, next month they rub off the velvet against the 

 bushes, and in September they are in full bloom. The 

 largest horns I ever measured were five feet three inches 

 across from tip to tip, but I heard of a pair that measured 

 six feet. In summer moose frequent the swamps and low- 

 lying lands in the proximity of lakes and rivers, and in mid- 

 summer they spend the greater part of the day in the 

 water, to escape the flies which torment them. At this 

 time they eat the leaves and stalks of the water lilies, and 

 when thus employed they are easily approached in a canoe. 

 During the rest of the year they live altogether on browse. 

 In summer the bulls are very fat, but later on they fall off 

 in condition, and in the fall are hardly fit to eat ; but at this 

 time cows are excellent. No beef is more juicy or tender 

 than the meat of a dry cow moose in the fall of the year. 



