MOOSE-HUNTING IN CANADA 125 



The instrument wherewith the caller endeavours 

 to imitate the cry of the cow consists of a cone- 

 shaped tube made out of a sheet of birch bark 

 rolled up. This horn is about eighteen inches in 

 length and three or four in diameter at the broadest 

 end, the narrow end being just large enough to fit 

 the mouth. The " caller " uses it like a speaking- 

 trumpet, groaning and roaring through it, imitating 

 as well as he can the cry of the cow moose. Few 

 white men can call really well, but some Indians 

 by long practice can imitate the animal with 

 wonderful success. Fortunately, however, no two 

 moose appear to have precisely the same voice, 

 but make all kinds of strange and diabolical noises, 

 so that even a novice in the art may not despair of 

 himself calling up a bull. The real difficulty — 

 the time when you require a perfect mastery of 

 the art — is when the bull is close by, suspicious 

 and listening with every fibre of its intensely 

 accurate ear to detect any sound that may reveal 

 the true nature of the animal he is approaching. 

 The smallest hoarseness, the slightest wrong vibra- 

 tion, the least unnatural sound, will then prove 

 fatal. The Indian will kneel on the ground, putting 

 the broad end of the horn close to the earth so as 

 to deaden the sound, and with an agonised expres- 



