WILD ANIMALS AND MEN 215 



before. The age of these the hunter was able to determine 

 from the amount of newly fallen snow in the track, as well as 

 from other conditions ; for he well remembered how much snow 

 had fallen each day for the last week or two, when and which 

 way the wind had blown, and when the sun was strong and the 

 cold severe. Now selecting a two-day-old trail as the best 

 for us to follow, he decided to camp for the night, and we spent 

 the interval between supper and bedtime discussing not only 

 the hunting of moose, but also their range and habits. 



The extreme range of a moose covers from five to fifteen 

 miles. More often it is confined to a much smaller area that 

 merely includes the low-lying river and lake valleys that afford 

 him the choicest of summer food — the pineapple-like roots of 

 waterlilies — and also affords him protection from flies while 

 he is wading and delving for those very roots; and the 

 higher lands among the hills, where he spends the winter in 

 the denser forest. 



But it is in midsummer that we can study the moose with 

 greatest ease, for then he spends the sunrises and sunsets 

 wading among the lily pads, and if we are careful to observe the 

 direction of the wind to guard against being scented, and also 

 careful to cease paddling or any other motion before the big 

 brute looks at us, we may, with the greatest ease and safety, 

 propel our canoe to within from a hundred yards to fifty or 

 forty feet of the great beast as he stands looking at us 

 with raised head and dilating nostrils trying to catch our scent. 

 If he catches it, he suddenly tosses his ponderous head, drops 

 back slightly on his hind legs as he swings round, and is off 

 with a grunt. Nevertheless, he — or she — will pause long enough 

 to leave the sign that all deer leave upon the ground when 

 suddenly startled by — to them — the dreadful smell of human 

 beings. Or if it happens to be moonlight and the moose is a 

 bit mystified by the steady, but silent, scentless, and motionless 

 approach of our canoe, he may at first stand gazing at us, then 



