1 58 Moose - Hunting. 



withers ; his jet black skin, spotted white by the checkered sunlight, 

 shone as glossy as satin. For a moment he stood silent, as if listen- 

 ing, then moved away, all unconscious that he had had a spectator. 



A full-grown moose sheds his horns in the month of January, and 

 they are not again fully restored until the end of August. By this 

 time the velvet has been worn off and the horns are a rich fawn color, 

 shaded or marked with dark brown, and polished by having been 

 rubbed on the stems of the poplar and larch. The animal is now in 

 the perfection of his strength and condition, and emerging from the 

 swamps and bogs where he has spent the summer, feeding on the 

 yellow pond-lilies, and evading the moose-fly and similar pests by 

 frequently standing neck deep in some forest lake, he abandons the 

 long silence maintained while his horns were in the velvet, and enters 

 upon the rutting season — a noisy, aggressive, and pugnacious char- 

 acter. The fights which now occur between the old males are terrific. 

 Greek has met Greek, and the combat is often prolonged until their 

 horns become inextricably interlaced, and both animals die a miser- 

 able death. I once saw, in the month of October, two pairs of horns 

 firmly locked together, with parts of the skulls attached, sticking out 

 of a swamp, but as we were on the trail of a moose and had no time 

 to spare, I failed to secure them ; I could never find the spot again. 



Early in May, the cow-moose brings forth two, and sometimes 

 three calves, of a dark fawn color and slightly dappled. It has been 

 affirmed that the cow-moose retires to some sequestered spot in order 

 to protect her young from the attacks of bears and also of the bull- 

 moose, but I am of opinion that the latter is not at any time very 

 distant from the cow and her calves. 



On one occasion, in the early summer, I saw an old cow-moose, 

 with two calves, come out from an island in a lake and disport in the 

 water. Presently a very large bull-moose came out of the forest at a 

 little distance from them, and began to eat the roots of the yellow 

 pond-lily, which he procured by diving for them and bringing them 

 to the surface of the water in his teeth. While he was still feeding, 

 the cow and her calves retired. 



On the approach of winter, the moose form into small herds of 

 five or six animals, often containing a bull, a cow, and the young of 

 two seasons, and establish themselves in what is termed a moose- 

 yard. The yard is situated in some part of the country where there 



