116 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 



Color. Generally fulvoiis brown on the upper part of the body, and on tlic head and sides ; 

 this color extends to the upper part of the thighs and fore legs, occasionally cxtendu:g further 

 down. Ears greyish or dingy white -within. Body beneath light colored, with a slight tinge 

 of yellow or soiled white ; under side of tail white. In winter, the head, neck and all the 

 upper parts of the body quite dark. Young, sandy brown, unspotted ; and this color deepens 

 with age, so that in very aged individuals the color is almost black. 



Total length, 6 to 7 feet. 



Length of tail, 10-0 - 16-0. 



Height at the withers, 48 • - 65 • 0. 



The Moose, in its ungainly form and awkward movements, presents a singular contrast to 

 the elegance and graceful motions of the other members of its family. It is known with us 

 under the various names of Flat-Homed Elk, Black Elk, Moose, and Black Moose ; the name 

 moose being a corruption of the Indian appellation musee, or wood-eater. In the earliest 

 history of our State, the following allusion is made to this animal : " There is also another 

 " kind, which are represented to be large, and about which strange stories are related. I 

 " heard from the mouth of a Jesuit who had been taken prisoner by the Mohawk Indians, that 

 " there were many wild forest oxen in Canada and Nova-Francia, which in latin they named 

 " Boves sylvestres ; as large as horses, having long hair on their neck like the mane of a horse, 

 " but with cloven hoofs, and their habits were not fierce." {Vanderdonck.) 



In conformity to the doctrine held by many modern naturalists, that few if any quadrupeds 

 are common to the two continents, it has been doubted whether this species is identical with 

 the C. alces, or Elk of Europe. I have not had the opportunity, by direct comparison of 

 specimens from both continents, to determine this question ; but a careful examination of the 

 descriptions of European writers, with my notes taken many years since from specimens in the 

 collections of Paris and Berlin, satisfies me of their specific identity. Hamilton Smith, whose 

 opportunities for examining our Moose were very great, observes, that " the almost complete 

 " separation of the lower part of the horns into the form of branches, in most if not all the 

 " American specimens, is a very prominent character, while a similar conformation is rare in 

 " those of Europe." In the valuable collection of the Lyceum of Natural History of New- 

 York, are several horns of this species, all without the lower antlers. One pair, which is 

 attached to the skull, and which from its size probably belonged to an aged moose, is equally 

 destitute of lower antlers. This pair is four feet across from tip to tip ; the palmated part is 

 thirty inches wide, measured in an antero-posterior direction. 



In the summer, the Moose frequents the neighborhood of lakes and streams, frequently 

 swimming in the water, and feeding. upon aquatic plants, among which the roots of the pond- 

 lily appear to be most greedily devoured. It also feeds upon the high coarse grasses, twigs 

 of trees, more especially of the striped maple {Acer striatwn, Pursh), which has consequently 

 received the name of Moose-vjood. It likewise peels old trees, and feeds upon the bark. 

 Period of gestation, nine months ; and it produces one or two at a birth, in April or May. 



