214 The Wilderness Hunter. 



fronted me motionless ; then he began to turn, slowly, 

 and as if he had a stiff neck. When quarter way round 

 I fired into his shoulder ; whereat he reared and bounded 

 on the bank with a great leap, vanishing in the willows. 

 Through these I heard him crash like a whirlwind for a 

 dozen rods ; then down he fell, and when I reached the 

 spot he had ceased to struggle. The ball had gone through 

 his heart. 



When a moose is thus surprised at close quarters, it 

 will often stand at gaze for a moment or two, and then 

 turn stiffly around until headed in the right direction ; 

 once thus headed aright it starts off with extraordinary 

 speed. 



The flesh of the moose is very good ; though some 

 deem it coarse. Old hunters, who always like rich, 

 greasy food, rank a moose's nose with a beaver's tail, as 

 the chief of backwood delicacies ; personally I never liked 

 either. The hide of the moose, like the hide of the elk, 

 is of very poor quality, much inferior to ordinary buck- 

 skin ; caribou hide is the best of all, especially when used 

 as webbing for snow-shoes. 



The moose is very fond of frequenting swampy woods 

 throughout the summer, and indeed late into the fall. 

 These swampy woods are not necessarily in the lower 

 valleys, some being found very high among the moun- 

 tains. By preference it haunts those containing lakes, 

 where it can find the long lily-roots of which it is so fond, 

 and where it can escape the torment of the mosquitoes 

 and deer-flies by lying completely submerged save for its 

 nostrils. It is a bold and good swimmer, readily crossing 



