206 FRANK forester's FIELD SPORTS. 



rously turns the poor brutes' very pleasures into a lure to cer- 

 tain death, is to simulate the cry of the cow Moose, which is 

 easily done by immersing the lower end of a common cow-horn 

 partially in the water of some pool or river, and blowing through 

 it, iij a note very easily acquired, which perfectly resembles the 

 lowing of the female, and which rarely or never fails to bring 

 down the finest of the bulls from their haunts in the mountain 

 glens, to the ambush of the lurking hunter, in search of their 

 amorous mates. 



The Indians use for this purpose the bark of the beech or alder, 

 twisted into the shape of a paper cornet, or a postman's tin 

 horn, and, with this rude implement, are perfect adepts at pro- 

 ducing the sound requisite to call the hull to his love chase. 



The afternoon, and the silence of moonlight nights, are 

 the best times for this mode of hunting ; and cowardly and 

 treacherous as it may appear, it is perhaps the most perilous, 

 and not the least exciting, method of attacking this great Deer. 

 For, in the first place, the bull Moose may generally be heard 

 roaring in the upland glens, responsive to the simulated call, 

 long ere they reach the hunter's station ; and the intei-val be- 

 tween each successive bellow, nearer, and louder, and more TuU 

 of passionate fury, is necessarily a moment of the keenest ex- 

 citement. Then comes the tramp of his approaching gallop, 

 the crash of branches torn asunder by his impetuous charge, 

 and at last the presence, in the full heat and heyday of his amo- 

 rous rage, of the forest champion. 



Again, when he discovers that it is a cheat, and that no cow 

 Moose is on the spot, expectant of his caresses, his fury is tre- 

 mendous and appalling; for shy and timid as is this monstrous 

 animal at every other season, during the rutting time he is 

 dangerous and savage in the extreme, and will even attack a 

 man when unprovoked, if he cross his path, in his moments of 

 wanton dalliance. 



If he discover then the hunter, who is luring him, by playing 

 with his tenderest passions, he will charge him on the instant, 

 fearless ; and wo betide the luckless wight whose hand trembles 



