98 ACCESSIBLE FIELD SPOUTS. 



hands to be the average height of a full-grown male, 

 and 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 red deer, are, to me, perfect in shape, graceful 

 in their movements, and ornamental to the landscape ; 

 but the moose, on the other hand, with his short, thick 

 neck, asinine head, protruding eyes, heavy broad ears, 

 tremendous antlers, long, awkward, powerful legs and 



