130 A MOOSE HUNT ON SNOW-SHOES 



together resting heavily on one another, all overlaid with the spark- 

 ling frost work. Viewed beneath the rays of the setting sun on 

 the previous evening all the woodland had presented a wonderful 

 and magical appearance. A row of maples along the village street 

 was caught between the blood-red sky in the west, and a heavy 

 bank of indigo-blue cloud which marked the retreat of the storm 

 on the opposite horizon. Against this the trees fairly flamed. 

 Every branch and twig appeared as if carved out of rosy coral, and 

 on the top of each tree the light flashed from the ice as if from 

 great waxen tapers. Some of the utmost twigs burned like a 

 crown M stars. 



The hunters, therefore, were obliged to wait impatiently until 

 the rising wind, assisted by the thaw due to the sun's rays, should 

 clear the woods of this picturesque, yet for their purposes, awkward 

 encumbrance. 



Otherwise the thaw had happened opportunely, for it had 

 immensely strengthened the crust, and had given it sharp knife- 

 like edges when broken which would serve to cut the shins of a 

 travelling moose, and thus handicap him very severely. 



At this season of the year these deer, if undisturbed, confine 

 themselves to ' yards', which are not, as often imagined, spaces 

 behind which they fortress themselves against the attacks of wolves 

 and other foes, but merely some hillside or ' barren ', which they 

 have selected because it happened to be well sheltered and not 

 unsparsely covered with their favourite browse, such as the various 

 species of maples, withrod, white-hazel, mountain-ash, moose-wood, 

 and other esculent deciduous trees on the tips of which they sustain 

 life. In such favourite spots they will remain as long as the food 

 supply holds out, if not pushed from their cover by the hunter. 

 When disturbed, they invariably travel twenty to thirty miles before 

 yarding again. 



The space occupied by some half-dozen moose may be upwards 

 of half a mile square. Here the deep snow will be found scored in 

 every direction with a network of narrow paths along which the 

 deer invariably travel in single file. The bushes and young trees 

 are often bitten away to a height of some ten to twelve feet from the 

 ground. Between their great forelegs the moose will even ride down 

 a small tree, thus holding it firmly until hunger has been satisfied. 

 Should a number of ' yards ', as sometimes happens, approach 

 each other closely, the deer, when frightened, can make their way 

 from one to the other, and thus being able to travel at their ordinary 

 gait, a fast trot, they can speedily distance the most expert snow- 

 shoer, and baffle their fleetest enemies. 



When the snowfall is light, moose do not yard at all. In northern 



