200 FRANK forester's FIELD SPORTS. 



the British Provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and 

 every where north of the St. Lawrence, with the exception 

 only of the most southerly and highly cultivated portions of 

 Upper Canada, rtr — as it is now termed — Canada West, it is 

 very plentiful ; and in the British Provinces it is an object of 

 keen pursuit by amateur sportsmen, particularly of H. M. Re- 

 giments, in garrison at Quebec and Montreal, to whose rifles 

 great numbers fall victims every winter. On this side of the 

 Lines, the Moose is rarely, if ever, pursued by sportsmen as an 

 object of chase ; and it is not very frequently that its flesh is 

 even brought into our markets, though it is deservedly esteemed 

 a great dainty. 



With regard to the Cariboo, or Rein-Deer of North America — 

 although, by the way, some little doubt appears to be enter- 

 tained of late years, as to the fact of the perfect identity of the 

 Wild Deer, hunted in our northern forests under this name, 

 with the celebrated beast of draught which goes under the same 

 name in the Arctic regions — much less is known with certainty 

 than of his congener the Moose. 



Mr. DeKay, in his Natural History of the State of New- 

 York, appears to entertain some doubt as to the propriety of 

 including him in the Fauna of that State ; and I think has 

 never seen the animal at all, inasmuch as he states it to be of 

 much the same stature with the Common American Deer, Cer- 

 vus Virgmianus ; and farther asserts that, if it were to be found 

 at all in the immediate vicinity of civilized man, its extreme 

 gentleness, and its gregarious habits, would render it so easy a 

 prey, as to ensure its destruction. 



1 have never seen the animal myself, but I am acquainted 

 with several persons who have pursued and shot it ; I have often 

 examined its antlers, and its hoofs, with the pastern and cannon 

 bone attached. A specimen of each of these can be seen at any 

 time by the curious among sportsmen, in the office of the " Spirit 

 of the Times," among Mr. Porter's collection of curiosities. 

 The latter, the hoofs I mean, and antlers, perfectly corroborate 

 the reports of all hunters with whom I have spoken on the sub- 



