246 SPORTING ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST. 



of the moose from the vicinity of many places settled by 

 whites on the Pacific Coast, whereas it is common near the 

 encampments of some of the Northern red men. Its true 

 range lies between the forty-eighth and sixty-fifth parallels ; 

 but I should say that, with the exception of those that roam 

 as far as the Grand Coulee of the Columbia, few are to be 

 found lower than the forty-ninth parallel. Its worst foes 

 on the Pacific are the Blackfeet of Montana, who organize 

 regular expeditions for its pursuit late in the autumn, and, 

 it is said, capture or slay large numbers, they preferring its 

 flesh to that of the buffalo. 



This splendid animal differs from all its congeners in 

 many features characteristic of the deer family, and this 

 has caused naturalists to class it in a genus by itself. Its 

 nose is, in the first place, covered with hair, instead of be- 

 ing naked as in other members of the Cervidce; the nos- 

 trils are larger, being huge cavities; the upper lip is long, 

 and prehensile; the ears are very large; the horns are pal- 

 mated; the neck is short; the limbs are unusually long; the 

 body is rather short; the tail is only rudimentary, and both 

 sexes have a thick, shaggy mane. It is the largest member 

 of its family on the continent, a full-grown stag or bull be- 

 ing from four to four and a half feet in height at the shoul- 

 der, and weighing from eight to eleven or twelve hundred 

 pounds, although its body seldom exceeds seven feet in 

 length. Its antlers, which distinguish it so much from its 

 kindred, attain a weight of from forty to sixty pounds, 

 measuring from root to tip, along the curve, from four to 

 five and a half feet, and they are about the same distance 

 apart at the points. They do not arrive at perfection of 

 proportions until after the fifth year, when the palm is fre- 

 quently twelve inches in width. A male calf produces only 

 two small knobs the first season; but in the second these 

 attain a length of seven or eight inches, and in the fourth 

 they are sufficiently developed to become palmated. The 

 antlers are cast in December or January, and appear above 

 the skin in March or April ; and so rapidly do they grow 

 that, though they are in the "velvet" in July, and so soft 



