228 THE WILDERNESS HUNTER. 



grazed throughout the summer on marsh 

 plants, notably lily stems, and nibbled at the 

 tops of the very tall natural hay of the mead- 

 ows. The legs of the beast are too long and 

 the neck too short to allow it to graze habit- 

 ually on short grass ; yet in the early spring 

 when greedy for the tender blades of young, 

 green marsh grass, the moose will often shuffle 

 down on its knees to get at them, and it will 

 occasionally perform the same feat to get a 

 mouthful or two of snow in winter. 



The moose which lived in isolated, exposed 

 localities were speedily killed or driven away 

 after the incoming of settlers ; and at the 

 time that we hunted we found no sign of them 

 until we reached the region of continuous 

 forest. Here, in a fortnight's hunting, we 

 found as much sign as we wished, and plenty 

 of it fresh ; but the animals themselves we 

 not only never saw but we never so much as 

 heard. Often after hours of careful still- 

 hunting or cautious tracking, we found the 

 footprints deep in the soft earth, showing 

 where our quarry had winded or heard us, 

 and had noiselessly slipped away from the 

 danger. It is astonishing how quietly a moose 

 can steal through the woods if it wishes : and 

 it has what is to the hunter a very provoking 

 habit of making a half or three quarters circle 

 before lying down, and then crouching with 

 its head so turned that it can surely perceive 

 any pursuer who may follow its trail. We 

 tried every method to outwit the beasts. 

 We attempted to track them ; we beat through 

 likely spots ; sometimes we merely " sat on a 

 log " and awaited events, by a drinking hole, 



