46 CERVID^E. 



an elk, but a true deer, intermediate between the fallow- 

 deer (C. dama) and the rein-deer (C. tarandus) ; and its 

 horns are of a very different type from those of the elk, 

 which have no stem, and are also of much smaller 

 growth. 



The finest of the specimens of antlers just alluded to, 

 at Forglen, measures no less than eight feet two inches 

 across from tip to tip ; the stems of the horns at base 

 are nearly a foot in circumference, and some of the tines 

 are two feet three inches in length. 



Though of greatly inferior proportions to this colossal 

 animal, the Moose is of far larger dimensions and more 

 imposing appearance than any other existing species of 

 the Cervidce, though, at the same time, of such strange 

 and ungainly form that we can hardly wonder at the 

 absurd fables concerning it which are to be found among 

 Greek and Roman writers ; some of whom gravely 

 describe it as having no joints to its legs, antlers 

 growing from its eyelids, and only able to graze when 

 walking backwards. Its habit, when pursued, of blindly 

 stumbling over fallen trees and the like obstacles, owing 

 to the elevated carriage of the head, also gave rise to 

 the belief that it was subject to fits, and recovered itself 

 by smelling its hoof. 



A full-grown Bull-Moose stands from seventeen to 

 eighteen hands high, and weighs nearly twelve hundred 



