HEIGHT OF THE MOOSE DEER. 53 



date a single specimen can be found* Such is the 

 result of civilisation and the influx of the white man. 



The size to which the moose deer grows has been 

 variously stated. Audubon says over twenty hands ; 

 Mr. Hays, an animal artist of great talent, and who 

 has spent many years studying his profession in the 

 native haunts of all the subjects he has used his bruslj 

 upon, informs me that he has known animals to gro\\ 

 much larger. From this gentleman's experience as a 

 hunter and naturalist, I have not the slightest doubt 

 that he is correct. However, I believe about sixteen 

 and a half hands to be the average height of a full- 

 grown male, but that certain localities possibly where 

 greater abundance of the most suitable food is to be 

 found produce much larger animals. All the moose 

 that I have heard of being killed in Labrador where 

 the winters are particularly severe and vegetation 

 sparse have been smaller than those shot in the 

 State of Maine ; nor can I see any reason to doubt 

 such being the case. We know how other genera are 

 affected by such local peculiarities, and why should 

 this animal be an exception ? 



It is the habit of sportsmen and naturalists to praise 

 the appearance of the moose. My own impression is 

 that there is no animal more ungainly, awkward 

 looking, and apparently disproportioned. That he 

 is admirably constructed for the part he has to 

 play in life there is no question, but the very 

 requisites with which he is endowed give him such an 

 unusual appearance that prejudice alone can call him 

 handsome. 



The Virginian deer, the Fallow deer, the Wapiti, 

 and the Eed deer are, to me, perfect in shape, graceful 



