48 FOREST LIFE IN ACADIE. 



The height of the elk at the withers but little exceeds 

 that at the buttock ; the back consequently has not that 

 slope to the rear so often misrepresented in drawings of 

 the animal. The appearance of extra height forwards is 

 given by the mane, which stands out from the ridge of 

 the neck, something like the bristles of an inverted 

 hearth-broom. The ears, which are considerably over a 

 foot in length in the adult animal, are of a light brown, 

 with a narrow marginal dark-brown rim ; the cavity is 

 filled with thick whitish-yellow hair. The naked skin 

 fringing the orbit of the eye is a dull pink ; the eye itself 

 of a dark sepia colour. Under the orbit there is an arc 

 of very dark hair. The lashes of the upper lid are full, 

 and rather over an inch in length. A large specimen 

 will measure six feet six inches in height at the shoulder ; 

 length of head from occiput to point of muffle, following 

 the curve, thirty-one inches ; from occiput to top of 

 withers in a straight line, twenty-nine inches ; and from 

 the last point horizontally to a vertical tangent of the 

 buttocks, fifty-two inches. A large number of measure- 

 ments in my possession, for the accuracy of which I can 

 vouch, show much variation of the length of back in 

 proportion to the height, thus probably accounting for a 

 commonly received opinion amongst the white settlers of 

 the backwoods that there are two varieties of the moose. 



THE PAST HISTOEY OF THE ELK. 



The study of northern zoology presents a variety of 

 considerations interesting both to the student of recent 

 nature and to the palaeontologist. Taking as well known 



