A TASTE OF MAINE BIRCH. "»7 



was to go out in his canoe and conceal himself l»y 

 some point or island, and wait till he heard the game. 

 In the fall the moose comes into the water to eat the 



large fibrous roots of the poml-lili. He Bpla&fa 

 along till he finds a suitable spot, when he begins feed- 

 ing, sometimes thrusting his head and neck Beveral 

 feet under water. The hunter listens, and when the 

 imoose lifts his head and the rills of water run from 

 it, and he hears him " swash " the lily roots about to 

 get off the mud, it is his time to start. Silently a 

 shadow he creeps up on the moose, who by the way, 

 it seems, never expects the approach of danger from 

 the water side. If the hunter accidentally make 

 noise the moose looks toward the shore for it. Th 

 is always a slight gleam on the water, Uncle Nathan 

 says, even in the darkest night, and the dusky form 

 of the moose can be distinctly seen upon it. When 

 the hunter sees this darker shadow he lifts his < r nn to 

 the sky and gets the range of its barrels, then lowers 

 it till it covers the mark, and fires. 



The largest moose Uncle Nathan ever killed is 

 mounted in the State House at Augusta. lie shot 

 him while hunting in winter on snow -shot- The 

 moose was reposing upon the ground, with his h 

 stretched out in front of him, as one may some*! 

 see a cow resting. The position was such that 

 a quartering shot through the animal's hip could reach 

 its heart. Studying the problem carefully, and taki 

 his own time, the hunter fired. The moose Bprang 

 into the air, turned, and came with tremendous Btri< 

 straight toward him. "I knew he had not seen <»r 

 scented me," said Uncle Nathan, "but, by hemp, I 

 wished myself somewhere else just then; for I \ 

 lying right down in his path." But the noble a.m. 



