Moose -Hunting in Canada. 205 



Many men prefer caribou-hunting to moose-hunting, and I am 

 not sure that they are not right. The American caribou is, I believe, 

 identical with the reindeer of Europe, though the American animal 

 grows to a much larger size and the males carry far finer horns. The 

 does have small horns also. I believe the caribou is the only species 

 of deer marked by that peculiarity. Caribou are very fond of getting 

 out on the lakes as soon as the ice will bear, and feeding round the 

 shores. They feed entirely on moss and lichens, principally on the 

 long gray moss, locally known as "old men's beards," which hangs 

 in graceful festoons from the branches of the pines, and on the 

 beautiful purple and cream-colored caribou moss that covers the 

 barrens. They are not very shy animals, and will venture close to 

 lumber camps to feed on the moss which grows most luxuriantly on 

 the tops of the pines which the ax-men have felled. Caribou cannot 

 be run down, and the settlers rarely go after them. They must be 

 stalked on the barrens and lakes, or crept up to in the woods, precisely 

 in the same manner as the moose. 



Such is a brief outline of some Canadian sports. Life in the 

 woods need not be devoted entirely to hunting, but can be varied 

 to a great extent by fishing and trapping. The streams and lakes 

 teem with trout, and the finest salmon-fishing in the world is to be 

 found in New Brunswick and on the north shore of the gulf. In 

 Lower Canada there is still a good deal of fur to be found. In New 

 Brunswick and Nova Scotia beavers are almost extinct, and marten, 

 mink, lynx, otter, and other valuable fur-bearing animals are com- 

 paratively scarce. It would be hard, I think, for a man to spend a 

 holiday more pleasantly and beneficially than in the Canadian woods. 

 Hunting leads him into beautiful scenery; his method of life induces 

 a due contemplation of nature and tends to wholesome thought. He 

 has not much opportunity for improving his mind with literature, but 

 he can read out of the great book of nature, and find " books in the 

 running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything." If he 

 has his eyes and ears open, he cannot fail to take notice of many 

 interesting circumstances and phenomena ; and if he has any knowl- 

 edge of natural history, every moment of the day must be suggesting 

 something new and interesting to him. A strange scene, for ex- 

 ample, which came within my observation last year, completely 



