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I, I 48 FOREST LIFE IN ACADIE. 



The height of the elk at the withers but little exceeds 

 ! that at the buttock ; the back consequently has not that 



slope to the roar so often misrepresented in drawings of 

 the animal. The appearance of extra height forwards is 

 j given by the mane, which stands out from the ridge of 



j I the neck, something like the bristles of an inverted 



) j hearth-broom. The ears, which are considerably over a 



foot in length in the adult animal, are of a light brown, 

 with a narrow marginal dark-brown rim ; the cavity is 

 filled with thick whitish-yellow hair. The naked skin 

 fringing the orbit of the eye is a dull pink ; the eye itself 

 of a dark sepia colour. Under the orbit there is an arc 

 of very dark hair. The lashes of the uj^per lid are full, 

 and rather over an inch in length. A large specimen 

 will measure six feet six inches in height at the shoulder ; 

 length of head from occiput to point of muffle, following 

 the curve, thirty-one inches ; from occiput to top of 

 withers in a straight line, twenty-nine inches ; and from 

 i; , ! the last point horizontally to a vertical tangent of the 



buttocks, fifty-two inches. A large number of measure- 

 ments in my possession, for the accuracy of which I can 

 vouch, show much variation of the length of back in 

 proportion to the height, thus probably accounting for a 

 commonly received opinion amongst the white settlers of 

 the backwoods that there are two varieties of the moose. 



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Si w THE PAST HISTORY OF THE ELK. 



The study of northern zoology presents a variety of 

 considerations interesting both to the student of recent 

 nature and to the palaeontologist. Taking as well known 



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