216 The Wilderness Hunter. 



more calves and yearlings. In yarding, two or more such 

 families may unite to spend the winter together in an 

 unusually attractive locality ; and during the rut many 

 bulls are sometimes found together, perhaps following 

 the trail of a cow in single file. 



In the fall, winter, and early spring, and in certain 

 places during summer, the moose feeds principally by 

 browsing, though always willing to vary its diet by 

 mosses, lichens, fungi, and ferns. In the eastern forests, 

 with their abundance of hardwood, the birch, maple, and 

 moose-wood form its favorite food. In the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, where the forests are almost purely evergreen, it 

 feeds on such willows, alders, and aspens as it can find, 

 and also, when pressed by necessity, on balsam, fir, spruce, 

 and very young pine. It peels the bark between its hard 

 palate and sharp lower teeth, to a height of seven or 

 eight feet; these "peelings" form conspicuous moose 

 signs. It crops the juicy, budding twigs and stem tops 

 to the same height; and if the tree is too tall it "rides" 

 it, that is, straddles the slender trunk with its fore legs, 

 pushing it over and walking up it until the desired 

 branches are within reach. No beast is more destructive 

 to the young growth of a forest than the moose. Where 

 much persecuted it feeds in the late evening, early morn- 

 ing, and by moonlight. Where rarely disturbed it passes 

 the day much as cattle do, alternately resting and feeding 

 for two or three hours at a time. 



Young moose, when caught, are easily tamed, and are 

 very playful, delighting to gallop to and fro, kicking, 

 striking, butting, and occasionally making grotesque 



