NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 79 



THE MOOSE DEER, p. 99. My friend, Colonel Hardy, E.A., 

 who has exhausted the history of the moose in his book, 1 

 lias kindly given me the following valuable note : Mr. White's 

 account of the Moose Deer contained in Letter XXXII. is, as 

 is usual in his descriptions of objects of natural history coining 

 under his personal notice, both graphic and accurate; in justi- 

 fication of which remark, as an authority, I submit my own 

 long acquaintance with the monarch of the North American 

 pine forests, acquired during a sojourn of many years in the 

 woods of Canada ; and also here apologize for the introduction 

 of a few further observations on the natural history and habits 

 of an animal which I have always regarded with the greatest 

 interest, and which has foi'ined the subject of a considerable 

 portion of my American sketches both in pen and pencil. 



The moose in question \vlien seen by White had died the 

 morning before, having been in a languishing way for some time. 

 This has been, and will be, I fear, the inevitable and speedy fate 

 of every individual of this species, whether American moose or 

 European elk, attempted to be introduced alive into this country. 

 Hence its absence from our zoological gardens. Even in the 

 locality of its own natural habitat, the Alcine deer is difficult to 

 keep in confinement. It requires much freedom of range. I 

 have watched many instances in America, and kept them in a 

 state of domestication myself ; and excepting where the animals 

 have had i'ree access to the outskirts of their native forest, have 

 never known them really thrive. It is a fact well known to the 

 Indians that the elk or moose, as the species is designated in 

 America, seeks various shrubs and herbs as medicine for intes- 

 tinal disorder to which it is remarkably subject, white oak bark 

 being one frequently used and evidently as an astringent, moun- 

 tain ash and other bitter shrubs as tonics, &c. ; whilst the food 

 it partakes of in a state of nature is generally of too varied a 

 character to be afforded in confinement. Though, when in the 

 latter state, the elk will eat with avidity a variety of roots and 

 substances such as potatoes, beans or peas a diet which soon 

 kills it except when most sparingly introduced in its native 

 forests it browses so exclusively upon the terminal shoots 

 of young trees and bushes as to well merit the title of wood- 

 eater. 



I have never seen any sign of moose having cropped the rank 

 grass of wild forest meadows (beaver meadows) or the short 

 pasture of wood-side clearings in the settlements. The only 



1 Vide " Forest Life in Arcadie." and " Sporting Adventures in the New 

 World." 



