THE ALCINE DEER OF THE OLD AND NEW WORLDS. 75 



Whatever may be said about the mild eyes of the 

 dying moose, a wounded animal, unable to get away, 

 assumes a very " ugly " expression. The little hazel eye 

 and constricted muscles of the mouffle speak volumes of 

 concentrated hate. Such scenes I have lost no time in 

 terminating by a quick coup de grdce. When the 

 moose faces the hunter, licking his lips, it is a caution to 

 stand clear. 



Portions of skeletons, the skulls united by firmly 

 locked antlers, are not unfrequently found in the wilder- 

 ness arena where a deadly fight has occurred, and the 

 unfortunate animals have thus met a lingering and 

 terrible death, to which may be applied the well-known 

 lines of Byron in illustration — the contest, indeed, being 

 prolonged beyond the original intention : — 



" Friends meet to part : love laughs at faith ; 

 True foes, once met, are joined till death !" 



A splendid pair of locked horns of the American 

 moose now adorn the Museum of the Eoyal College of 

 Surgeons. 



In hot weather the moose appears much oppressed and 

 lazy ; he will scarcely stir, and a little exertion causes 

 him to pant and the tongue to hang out. Cold weather, 

 on the contrary, braces him up, and we always find that 

 on a frosty night and morning in the fall of the year 

 the moose is more inclined to travel and answer the 

 hunter s call than on a close night, though in the height 

 of the season. The best time for calling is on a cold 

 frosty morning just before sunrise, when a rime frost 

 whitens the barrens, and the air holds a death-like 

 stillness, the constant hooting of the cat-owls (Bubo 

 Virginianus) portending the approach of a storm. 



