D E 



an eighteenth. The hunters named him a black 

 moose, and from the greater length of head in pro- 

 portion to his height, and the particular form of the 

 horns, insisted that this was a different species from 

 the brown. There is however no character sufficiently 

 distinctive to claim our assent to this assertion, for it 

 is known that considerable variation in the horns 

 occurs from various causes, although it must be ad- 

 mitted that the almost complete separation of the 

 lower parts into the form of branches is a very pro- 

 minent character in most if not all the American 

 specimens, while a similar formation is rare in those 

 of Europe, but the colours of the hair differ with the 

 season ; and if this specimen belong- to a different 

 species, both would be of that species, the result 

 proving only that the European is not of the same. 

 The two here mentioned were dark, almost black, 

 with grey hairs intermixed, but that with the largest 

 horns had the greatest intermixture of grey ; they 

 were killed on the borders of the Saquenai, in Lower 

 Canada, where both they and a herd of buffaloes were 

 considered as strangers. The darkest was shot in 

 September, and the grey in November, which may 

 account for the difference of colour. 



" During the time that their horns are sprouting, 

 the animals remain most in willow covers, returning 

 to the evergreen woods when they are restored ; their 

 period of life does not exceed twenty years. 



" They are hunted in North America chiefly during 

 the early part of winter, and towards the spring. 

 While the snows are not deep they are not easily 

 attacked; but when they begin to harden, and the 

 hunters run on snow-shoes, they endeavour to turn 

 the game towards ravines, or where it is drifted deep. 

 The Huron hunters have assured us that when this is 

 effected he is sure to be soon entangled, and to 

 flounder in it ; but that they must be on their guard, 

 and run instantly upon the deep snow to fire at him 

 as he turns, because he will endeavour to double on 

 his own track, and charge all that are then in his 

 way. When first discovered, he is often found sitting 

 on his hams like a dog, voiding his urine before he 

 rises to escape. Against the bear and the wolf, he 

 stands at bay with his horns, acting offensively only 

 with his fore or hind feet ; his kick is very powerful 

 and quick ; it is said that a small tree is splintered 

 by it. 



" The Indians are great admirers of the flesh, to us 

 it appeared superior to the stag's ; but under the cir- 

 cumstances which admit of this kind of banquet, it 

 may be doubted whether a similar judgment would 

 be passed in the comforts of a home ; the nose and 

 the tongue are admitted to be the best parts. Mr. 

 Pennant states that they were once used to draw 

 sledges in Sweden, but that it afforded to malefactors 

 the facility of escaping, and that therefore the use of 

 them was prohibited. The hide furnishes excellent 

 leather and buff skins for belts." 



It has sometimes been alleged, that the very large 

 deers' horns which are found abundantly in the bogs 

 of Ireland, and sometimes, though more rarely, in 

 similar formations in Britain, are horns of the elk ; 

 and it has thence been inferred that at one time the 

 elk was very plentifully found in the former island, 

 and by no means rare in the latter. But there is no 

 reason to conclude very dogmatically from the horns 

 themselves, because, as we have already said, they 

 are subject to great variations even in the same 

 country and at the same time ; and therefore we can 



E R. 258 



satisfactorily draw no conclusion from them as to 

 what may have been the animal whose remains are 

 so common in these deposits. But we have conclu- 

 sive evidence that the animal to which those horns 

 belong, and which must have been at least as large as 

 a cart-horse of the present day, was a stag and not 

 an elk ; because the skeleton has been found, and 

 the relative proportions of the bones are exactly those 

 j of the stag ; but whether of the stag which is still 

 found in the old continent, and which has degene- 

 rated in consequence of change of climate in the lapse 

 of centuries, or of some more gigantic variety which 

 is now extinct, we have no means of ascertaining ; 

 and therefore it would be idle to offer any conjectures 

 on the subject. 



That Ireland and many parts of Scotland, more 

 especially the western islands, and the isles, have 

 undergone a very remarkable climatal change is cer- 

 tain. They are now almost entirely denuded of tim- 

 ber, except a few wretched copses of underwood, and 

 a few artificial plantations ; and in both, black or red 

 peat bog has come in the stead of what once were 

 forests of the most gigantic trees. When those 

 forests were in their prime and glorious forests they 

 then must have been, for the writer of this article has 

 traced the remains of a single tree full 150 feet in 

 length when they were thus in their prime it, is 

 natural to suppose that they were inhabited by deer 

 worthy of them ; and that from whatever cause, or 

 by whatever catastrophe, the goodly forest and its 

 gallant inhabitants have faded away. It is generally 

 said that the invaders of Ireland wantonly consumed 

 the forests with axe and fire-brand, and as wantonly 

 exterminated the deer, but this wants confirmation ; 

 and besides it does not come within the pale of natu- 

 ral history, and would not explain the phenomena lit 

 question although it did. W r hen we look at the 

 grand features of the natural world, we may put aside 

 the small results of man's working ; for there is a 

 maturity and a decay in certain states of countries 

 which man cannot greatly, or perhaps even sensibly,. 

 either accelerate or retard. Besides, we know of no 

 such catastrophe in the parts of Scotland to which we 

 have alluded"; and there we find a few lingering rem- 

 nants of the forest which tell us of its former existence, 

 and that it has yielded to the powers of nature, and 

 not to the hand of man. In many places there are 

 the roots of yews with a small circle of the external 

 or last formed wood still undecayed, and sometimes 

 with green foliage the size of a feather upon some por- 

 tion of the ample circumference. These were in the 

 rich bottoms no doubt, but at all events they are now 

 in the wilderness ; and some of them measure fifteen 

 or even eighteen feet across, so that they must have 

 been giants in their day. Besides, in situations which 

 are too bleak, and beaten by the winds and rain of the 

 Atlantic, for suffering fungi to sprout and moss to 

 accumulate for (such are the beginnings of a peat 

 bog), there are still immense trunks lying bleaching, 

 white and sapless, and unfit for affording nourishment 

 to even the smallest fungus which can grow upon a 

 fallen tree. This is not, however, the place to enter 

 upon such subjects, though it is difficult to discuss the 

 natural history of deer without at the same time 

 thinking of the progressive history of forests, and 

 being carried back in imagination to times when our 

 country had far more of a natural majesty in it than 

 it has at present, notwithstanding its arts and its 

 wealth ; and though our habits are such that we 



