MAMMALS. 637 



parts where it was once abundant, for it and man cannot well agree ; 

 man is too fond of saddles of venison to allow it to remain unmolested. 

 Still, there are many places left where the hunter can engage in deer-stalk- 

 ing, or supply his larder in some less noble way. 



In the northern territory west of the Mississippi, the place of the Vir- 

 ginia deer is taken by the white-tailed species, and farther south by the 

 Sonora, or Mexican, deer. The same northern territory is shared by the 

 mule-deer, which receives its name from its long ears. All of these deer 

 have much the same habits, except that one is fond of the woods; another, 

 of the plains; while a third may prefer a mountainous country. All are 

 very curious, and any strange object will quickly attract their attention, 

 and a desire for investigation frequently brings them within range of the 

 hunter's gun. Any sort of vegetable matter will serve them as food ; but 

 they are especially fond of rich herbage, and the leaves and twigs of 

 various trees and saplings like the maple. 



In an edition of Pliny's Natural History of the year 1601 we read: 

 " More over in the Island Scandinavia there is a beest called Machlis, not 

 much unlike to the alee abovenamed ; common he is there, and much talk 

 we have heard of him, how beit in these parts hee was never seene. Hee 

 resembleth, I say, the alee but that hee hath neither joint in the hough, 

 nor pasterns in his hind-legs : and therefore he never lieth downe, but sleep- 

 eth leaning to a tree And therefore the hunters that lie in await for these 

 beests, cut downe the tree whiles they are asleepe, and so take them ; 

 other wise they should never bee taken, so swift of foot they are, that it is 

 wonderfull. Their upper lip is exceeding great, and therefore as they 

 graze and feed, they goe retrograde, least if they were passant forward, 

 they should fold double that lip under their muzzle." Such was the olden 

 idea of the animal known in Europe as the elk, and with us as the moose. 

 The old account contains three truths. These animals do live in Scandi- 

 navia, they are fleet of foot, and their upper lip is enormous, as our por- 

 trait shows. In almost every other respect the picture is a fancy sketch ; 

 the statement about the sleep in a standing position has been made of many 

 other forms, the elephant and the giraffe among others. It is as untrue 

 of one as of the other. The moose is not confined to the " Island Scandi- 

 navia." It occurs hi Russia as well, and there is a preserve in Prussia. 

 In our own country, as well, the moose is well known, extending its range 

 across the continent, and just entering our northern states. 



The moose is very large, and may reach a weight of a thousand pounds. 

 It wanders solitary or in herds of from six to ten through the forest, 

 browsing on the willow and on ' moose-wood ' (striped maple), making on 

 the average a journey of five or six miles a day or better in a night. 



