72 



FOREST LIFE IN ACADIE. 



meadow hay stacked by the settlers hack in tlic woods is 

 never touched by moose, though I have s(>en th(!m eat 

 hay wlieii taken young and brought u[) in captivity. A 

 young one in my i)ossession wouhl also graze on grass, 

 which, vainly endeavouring to crop by widely straddling 

 with the forel(>gs he would finally drop on his knees to 

 eat, and thus would advance a step or two to reach 

 further, and in a liiost ludicrous manner. 



To get at the foliaije out of reach of his mouffle the 

 animal resorts to the practice of riding down young 

 trees, as shown in the accompanying woodcut. 



The teeth of the moose are arranged according to the 

 dental formula of all ruminants, though I once saw a 

 lower jitw containing nine perfect incisors. The crown 

 of the molar is deeply cleft, and the edges of the enamel 

 surrounding the cutting surfaces very sharp and hard as 

 adamant — beautifully adapted to reduce the coarse 

 sa})less branches on which it is sometimes compelled to 

 subsist in winter, when accumulated snows sluit it out 

 from seekinjij more favourable feedina: urounds. I have 

 often heard it asserted by Indian hunters that a large 

 stone is to be found in the stomach of every moose. 

 This, of course, is a fable ; but a few years since I was 

 given a calculus from a moose's stomach which I had 

 sawn in two. The concentric rings were well defined, 

 and were composed of radiating crystals like needles. The 

 nuch'us was })lain]y a portion of a broken molar tooth 

 which tlie animal had swallowed. A short time after- 

 wards I obtained another bezoar taken from a moose. 

 The rings were fewer in numl)cr than in the preceding 

 case, but the nucleus was a, very nearly perfe(^t and entire 

 molar. 



