THE MOOSE. 133 



becomes exhausted. This occurs all the sooner if the 

 snow be covered with .a thin icy crust, which breaks 

 beneath the weight of the animal, and lacerates his 

 legs at every step, staining the snow with his blood. 

 This method is called ' crusting.' 



" The moose, when at bay, is no despicable antago- 

 nist. With his fore feet he can deal destructive blows, 

 while his ponderous antlers are used for tossing and 

 goring. When the animal, perceiving that further 

 retreat is useless, stops and faces the hunter, licking 

 his lips, and throwing into his little eye a blaze of 

 concentrated malice, it is high time to end the scene by 

 a well-directed bullet. 



"Instances have been known in which the hunter 

 has met his death in these encounters his ribs frac- 

 tured by the powerful blows administered by the fore 

 feet, and his whole body gashed and torn by the ant- 

 lers of the infuriated animal. Luckily such instances 

 are not numerous ; but the consciousness of their 

 possible occurrence invests the sport with a degree of 

 interest and dignity of which the pursuit of less 

 dangerous game is devoid. 



"As might be inferred from the size of the ear in 

 this species, the hearing of the moose is extremely 

 acute, and is only inferior as a detective of danger to 

 the power of scent in the capacious nose. The slightest 

 crackling of a dried stick beneath the hunter's foot, 

 the rustling of the underwood against his person, are 

 conveyed to a great distance in the forest, and apprize 



