66 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



about sixteen and a half hands to be the average height of 

 a full-grown male; but that certain localities possibly 

 where greater abundance of the most suitable food is to be 

 found produce much larger animals. All the moose that 

 I have heard of being killed in Labrador where the win- 

 ters are particularly severe and vegetation sparse have 

 been smaller than those shot in the State of Maine; nor 

 can I see any reason to doubt such being the case. We 

 know how other genera are affected by such local pecul- 

 iarities, and why should this animal be an exception ? 



It is the habit of sportsmen and naturalists to praise the 

 appearance of the moose. My own impression is that there 

 is no animal more ungainly, awkward-looking, and appar- 

 ently disproportioned. That he is admirably constructed 

 for the part he has to play in life, there is no question ; but 

 the very requisites with which he is endowed give him 

 such an unusual appearance, that prejudice alone can call 

 him handsome. 



The Virginian deer, the fallow deer, the Wapitti, and 

 the red deer are to me perfect in shape, graceful in their 

 movements, and ornamental to the landscape; but the 

 moose, on the other hand, with his short, thick neck, asi- 

 nine head, protruding eyes, heavy broad ears, tremendous 

 antlers, long, awkward, powerful legs, and disproportionate 

 withers, looking even higher than they are from the mane 

 that surmounts them, can never be considered by an im- 

 partial judge but an awkward and clumsy-looking brute. 



Of all the ruminants on the American continent, the 

 moose is the tallest. I doubt not that a stall-fed ox can 

 be made to weigh as heavy, but not to attain the stature ; 

 and on this account, as well as many others, it is really a 

 duty that the Legislatures of the various States of which 

 he is an inhabitant owe to the country at large to pass and 

 enforce such laws as will prevent his ultimate annihilation. 



