i;2 HUNTING CAMPS. 



the calls of the cow moose. In words it is impossible to 

 describe these wild sounds, even although it was my fortune 

 later to hear a cow singing her love-song at no great distance, 

 so I will not attempt to do so. The noise is something 

 between a bellow and a moan and is repeated three times, 

 the final call being more prolonged than the others. 



It would seem that for moose-calling the standing posi- 

 tion is necessary, as Ed would never call from the canoe. To 

 begin with, he never used the bull's call, as is generally done 

 in Western America ; but then it is said, and doubtless with 

 truth, that in Western America the moose is a much less 

 sophisticated animal than his brethren of the forests of 

 Maine and Lower Canada. Also the number of bulls is 

 probably far greater in the districts where the bull call is so 

 successful, and consequently each bull has to win his mate 

 by ordeal of battle ; whereas in Maine and Lower Canada 

 the law which protects cows absolutely has been in force 

 long enough to have brought about an immense increase in 

 their numbers. 



On the evening I write of the comparative stillness of the 

 weather was greatly in our favour, and the calls must have 

 carried quite three or even four miles, being aided in this by 

 a high ridge near by, which caught and hurled the sound 

 onward. 



Almost immediately after the calls darkness came on 

 apace. Five, ten, fifteen minutes passed ; a squirrel hissed 

 and chattered from a tree, an owl mournfully saluted the 

 night, and the shadows of the woodland deepened round the 

 margin of the lake. Then followed a silence till a musk-rat 

 came swimming down, and suddenly, either seeing or wind- 

 ing us, dived with a click like a cork being drawn from a 

 bottle ; and then the owl once more. 



Half an hour passed thus before Ed called again ; an- 

 other half -hour, and yet another. It was not until after 

 the fourth time of calling that from far away we heard first 



