MAMMALS OF MINNESOTA. 273 



grazing like other deer. The moose is said to feed upon conifer- 

 ous as well as deciduous trees, which is rather exceptional. 

 In winter higher ground is sought, but still in localities afford- 

 ing abundant * ' browse. " When the snow becomes deep they 

 are said to congregate in close herds and select a limited range 

 which becomes more circumscribed as the snow deepens and 

 becomes encrusted. This is called a "yarding" and a moose 

 yard may occupy nearly one hundred acres. Such yards, when 

 discovered by the hunter, of course, are a capital prize. The 

 females do not yard with the old males, the former often occu- 

 pying separate yards with their calves. The younger males 

 are quite gregarious, but as age increases a desire for solitude 

 seems to augment till ultimately the patriarch becomes a her- 

 mit, nursing his morose reflections in some isolated spot far 

 from the haunts of his kind. 



The pursuit of the moose is rendered difficult by the keen- 

 ness of his senses and extreme wariness. To stalk the animal 

 even with firearms taxes the patience and skill of the Indian. 

 When, however, the snow becomes covered with so firm a crust 

 as to support the hunter and impede effectually the progress 

 of the heavy animal, the chase of the moose becomes compara- 

 tively easy to one familiar with its habits and haunts. When 

 hunted at such times the herds pass in single file, each step- 

 ping so accurately in the foot- prints of its predecessor as to 

 lead any but an experienced person to suppose that but a single 

 animal formed the trail. When moving rapidly, the leader 

 becomes weary of breaking the way and steps to one side fall- 

 ing in behind the others, and in this way they change in rota- 

 tion, although a very chivalrous care is exercised in aiding the 

 weaker members of the herd. 



During their confinement in yards at the hight of winter the 

 accessible shrubs are very closely cropped, but ordinarily the 

 tree is not killed since only one side is stripped. The bark is 

 removed to a hight of ten feet as the animal rears upon its 

 hind feet and peels the bark. The direction a herd is moving 

 may be ascertained by one familiar with their habits since the 

 bushes browsed are pulled toward the animal. The fir trees 

 are browsed but the bark is not eaten, yet hunters state that 

 young firs suffer more than other species from the habit of the 

 males of rubbing their heads upon them in such a way as to 

 apply the balsam to the abraded skin about the horns. It would 

 be a curious and instructive fact, if substantiated, if instinct 

 teaches the animal the curative properties of the balsam of fir 



