56 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



the result. I knew an instance where a French Cana- 

 dian nearly lost his life by one of these furious beasts. 

 He had gone with his pony and sledge to bring a boat 

 across a portage, and on his return, while threading 

 the intricacies of the bush-path, a moose, excited with 

 rage and lust, rushed past him. Indiscreetly he fired 

 a charge of small shot after the retreating termagant, 

 which brought him to the right-about, and caused 

 him to charge. Into the boat jumped the Canadian, 

 but the thin ribs and planks afforded no protection 

 from such an assailant. The frail craft was soon 

 knocked to pieces, and our friend took to a tree, when, 

 from his perch, he witnessed his pony gored and 

 trampled to death. Moral : Don't fire small shot at 

 moose if you have any regard for your life. 



During the rutting season many bull moose are 

 annually killed, for the hunters, taking advantage of 

 their then combative disposition, secrete themselves, 

 and imitate, by means of a roll of birch bark, the 

 challenge note of an excited male. Some gallant lord 

 of the wilderness hears the false, deceptive call, and 

 believing that his demesne has been invaded by a rival, 

 towering with rage, he rushes in the direction whence 

 the sound proceeds, intent on repelling the intruder. 

 Listening to the repeated calls, again and again 

 the bull answers, till at length he is drawn within the 

 range of the rifle of the secreted hunter. My maiden 

 effort at moose -shooting was made in such a manner. 

 As if it were but yesterday, the whole adventure is 

 written plainly on my memory. I had only been 

 in America a few months. The attractions of Saratoga 

 I could not avoid, and when there became acquainted 

 with a family of St. Francis Indians, earning a pre- 



