MOOSE HUNTING AND CALLING. 199 



still in velvet. Generally if the calling season begins 

 early it ends early, lasting in all about a month to five 

 weeks. In 1906, when we were calling on the south 

 side of the St. Lawrence, our last bull came in on the 

 21st of October, but there is much more difficulty in 

 bringing them in so late in the season. 



The call of the cow moose is said to consist of three 

 distinct notes, long dwelt on, with a pause of about a 

 minute between each. It is a curious fact that, although 

 I have been fortunate enough to hear cows call on 

 many occasions, I can remember only one on which 

 the three accepted calls were given. This was at Lac 

 Pino after dark. On the other hand, one evening in 

 1908 a cow moose suddenly called about a mile away. 

 I immediately travelled in the direction of the sound, 

 and when I was quite near, certainly within a quarter 

 of a mile, the cow called seventeen times almost without 

 a pause. I gradually approached within a hundred 

 yards of the cow, who by this time had been joined 

 by a bull, and at this lesser distance found her calls 

 resolved themselves into a harsh, throaty roar, ending in 

 a prolonged moan. Though not loud, the sound seemed 

 absolutely to vibrate through the air, and on a still 

 night (and no other is of much use for calling) would 

 travel for miles. To reproduce this bellow from a 

 human throat is, as I have said, not a readily-acquired 

 attainment, and in Maine the counterfeit call must 

 be given to perfection, for the moose of that region 

 are cautious. Indeed, the sense of hearing in the 

 moose is extraordinarily developed ; the large palmated 

 horns seem to act as sounding-boards, and the least 

 irregularity in the call, instead of beguiling the 

 bull, sets every animal within hearing on the qm 



