A CURIOUS EXPERIENCE 343 



when there is no snow they feed freely on 

 various ground plants in the forest; but for 

 over half the year they prefer to eat the grasses 

 and other plants which grow either above or 

 under the water in the lakes. They easily wade 

 through mud not more than four feet deep, 

 and take delight in swimming. But until this 

 trip I did not know that moose, while swim 

 ming, dived to get grass from the bottom. Mr. 

 McKinney told me of having seen this feat 

 himself. The moose was swimming to and 

 fro in a small lake. He plunged his head 

 beneath water, and then at once raised it, look 

 ing around, evidently to see if any enemy were 

 taking advantage of his head being concealed 

 to approach him. Then he plunged his head 

 down again, threw his rump above water, and 

 dived completely below the surface, coming up 

 with tufts of bottom-grass in his mouth. He 

 repeated this several times, once staying down 

 and out of sight for nearly half a minute. 



After the cow moose left the water she spent 

 an hour close to the bank, near the inlet. We 

 came quite near to her in the canoe before she 

 fled; her calves were farther in the woods. It 

 was late when we started to make our last 

 portage; a heavy rain-storm beat on us, speed 

 ily drenching us, and the darkness and the 



