THE MOOSE 8i 



willows with the shoulder-blade proves nothing. It is 

 an old trick of deer-hunters to rap discarded antlers 

 together, or even two stones, to indicate to any deer 

 within sound that a fight is in progress and to invite 

 him to look in, if he wants some of it or the favor 

 which may belong to the winner. I think the buck 

 thinks in that case that there is " something doing " 

 in the glen. But what Mr. Bull Moose thinks (when 

 he hears some of the amateurs, who imagine they can 

 call), no one knows. My opinion is that when he hears 

 an expert caller he thinks a cow is near and that when 

 he hears an amateur he just wonders what that noise 

 is. In the latter case I believe he more often goes the 

 wrong way. 



Mr. Grant, who is probably the best all-around 

 moose-hunter in America, says on this subject, that 

 "in Maine and New Brunswick, the animals answer 

 the birch-horn, under the impression that it is the call of 

 the cow. This calling is usually done in the evening 

 by lake or marsh ; but in Nova Scotia, daybreak on a 

 barren is a favorite hour and place. Personally I have 

 not much confidence in calling, and rely generally on 

 trailing ; but bulls certainly are killed in this manner, 

 although it seems that the young bulls are much more 

 apt to answer the call than the larger and more wary 

 animals. In Nova Scotia it seems to be a well-au- 

 thenticated fact that bear have been shot by moose- 

 callers, the bear apparently sneaking up to seize the 

 supposed cow. If this be true, it must be a very rare 

 occurrence, and is certainly the only time I have ever 

 heard that adult moose are attacked by bears."* 



* Seventh Report of the New York State Forest, Fish, and Game Com- 

 mission. 



