220 THE WILDERNESS AND JUNGLE 



living deer is the moose, and a bull moose will 

 stand over 6 feet at the shoulder. The record 

 antlers measure 55^ inches, with 40 points. 

 This is the same animal as the European elk, 

 which is chiefly shot in Norway and Sweden, 

 but which also ranges through Russia to the 

 Caucasus. In Canada it is found chiefly in the 

 Lower Provinces, i.e. New Brunswick, Quebec, 

 and Nova Scotia. Besides being the largest, it 

 is also without doubt the ugliest of deer, its 

 hairy throat, flat and spreading antlers and 

 huge snout giving it an ungainly and for- 

 bidding appearance, particularly if seen sud- 

 denly and unexpectedly at close quarters. In 

 colour, the bull goes from black to grey, and 

 the antlers are shed in the depth of winter. 

 The moose feeds chiefly on young shoots of 

 the birch and spruce and, in summer time, on 

 lily pads, wallowing in the cool brooks and 

 tearing these up wholesale, so intent on gather- 

 ing its salad as to be oblivious of approaching 

 canoes. As, however, the summer close time 

 is strictly enforced, it runs, or should run, no 

 risk of being shot with anything worse than a 

 camera. I regret to say that it is precisely in 

 the summer months, when the game wardens 

 are off duty, that the poachers are most 

 active, particularly in Madawaska County. 

 The authorities do all they can to prevent 

 such breach of the law, and not long ago a 



