206 SrOR TL\G AD I 'JLVTURES 



for a stray naturalist or Nimrod to seek knowledge or pleasure 

 in their country. The red men capture it by means of pitfalls, 

 and traps made of fallen trees, but their most successful mode 

 is to lie in wait near its watering-places and shoot it from 

 under cover when it comes to drink. They never follow it 

 for hours and days as their brethren in Canada do for the 

 simple reason that they can obtain food as good with much 

 less trouble, and that they are thoroughly indifferent to such 

 feelings as the enthusiasm of the chase. One thing may be 

 said in favour of the Indian, and that is, that he seldom 

 destroys the life of a valuable animal needlessly; hence, 

 probably, the reason why he and all wild animals dwell in 

 close proximity ; whereas the presence of a white man will 

 send them scampering off in a very short time, and the 

 chances are that they do not return. To this fact might be 

 attributed the expulsion of the moose from the vicinity of 

 many places settled by whites on the Pacific Coast, whereas it is 

 common near the encampments of some of the northern red men. 

 Its true range lies between the JSth and (55th parallels ; but I 

 should say that, with the exception of those that roam as far 

 as the Grand Coulee of the Columbia, few are to be found 

 lower than the -10th parallel. Its worst foes on the Pacific 

 are the P>laekfect of Montana, who organize regular expe- 

 ditions for its pursuit late in the autumn, and, it is said, 

 capture or slay large numbers, they preferring its flesh to 

 that of the buffalo. 



This splendid animal differs from all its congeners in many 

 features characteristic of the deer family, and this has caused 

 naturalists to class it in a genus by itself. Its nose is, in 

 the first place, covered with hair, instead of being naked as in 

 other members of the Ccrrida: ; the nostrils are larger, being 

 huge cavities ; the upper lip is long and prehensile ; the ears 

 are very large; the horns are palmated; the neck is short; 

 the limbs are unusually long ; the body is rather short ; the 

 tail is only rudimentary, and both sexes have a thick, shaggy 

 mane. It is the largest member of its family on the Con- 

 tinent, a full-grown stag or bull being from four to four and 

 a half feet in height at the shoulder, and weighing from eight 



