

02 FOREST LIFE IN ACADIE. 



characterised l)y the predominance of evergreen coniferoc. 

 It was all at one time plentifully occupied l)y the mooHC, 

 which is now hut just frequent enough in its almost 

 inaccessible retreats in the Adirondack hills to be classed 

 amongst the quadrupeds of the State of New York. 

 The ranQ;e of the animal across the continent is thus 

 indicated, and its association with the physical features 

 of the American forest. As before remarked, tlie neigh- 

 bourhood of the Bay of Fundy appears to be its present 

 most favoured habitat ; and it seems to rejoice especially 

 in the low-lying, swampy woods, and innumeral)le lakes 

 and river-basins of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. 



The scientific diagnosis of the Alcine groups (Hamilton 

 Smith) having been detailed already, we pass on to 

 describe the hal)its of the American moose — the result 

 of a long period of personal observation in the localities 



fl last mentioned. First, however, a few remarks on the 



specific identity of the true elks of the two hemispheres 

 seem as much called for at this time as when Gilbert 

 White, writing exactly a century ago, asks, " Please to let 



f|! me hear if my female moose " (one that he had inspected 



at Goodwood, and belonging to the Duke of Eichmond) 

 " corresponds with that you saw ; and whether you still 

 think that the American moose and Euroj)ean elk are the 



||^ same creature ? " In reference to this interesting ques- 



|i ■ tion, my own recent careful oljservations and measurc- 



|y ments of the Swedish elks at Sandringham compared 



tl with living specimens of moose of the same age examined 



in America, convince me of their identity; whilst the 

 late lamented Mr. Wheelwright, with whom I have had 

 an interesting correspondence on the subject, states in 

 " Ten Years in Sweden " : " The habits, size, colour, and 



liii! 





