340 



Ari'ENDlX. 



call on his cone trumpet of birch bark, if the animal is distant, is 

 freely and quickly returned. Resembling, at first, tlic chopping of 

 an axe far away in the woods, the sound, wlien nearer, becomes more 

 distinctly guttural. It is well expressed by the monosyllable " Quoh ! " 

 uttered by the Indian through the bark cone. 



Under the most favouring circumstances of a bright moon, and 

 the death-like stillness of a clear frosty atmosphere, the too sanguine 

 hunter is repeatedly doomed to disappointment ; tlie animal's appre- 

 ciation of his own language frequently proves the best master of the 

 craft to be but a sorry imitator. The moose on approaciiing the 

 ambush, the imagined locality of his hoped-for mate, at length comes 

 to a dead stand, maintaining the same attitude for sometimes a 

 couple of hours without an audible movement ; when the impatient 

 hunter once more ventures to allure hinx by another call, he is otf in 

 silent though hasty retreat. 



As an instance, however, of departure from their usual cautious 

 and quiet comportment at night on tlie part of these animals, I will 

 introduce here one of my " Sporting Adventures," published some 

 years since, and what I heard one cold October night in a very wild 

 and (then) almost unhunted portion of the country. 



" Though it was very cold, and my damped limbs were stiffening 

 under me from crouching so long in the same posture, I could not 

 but enjoy the calmness and beauty of the night. The moon was 

 very low, but the columns of a magnificent aurora, shooting up to 

 the zenith, threw a mellow light on the barren, which, covered by 

 mist as by a sheet, appeared like a moonlit lake, and the numerous 

 little clusters of dwarfish spruce as islands. We had not heard a 

 moose answer to our call for nearly an hour, and were preparing to 

 move, when the distant sound of a falling tree struck our ears. It 

 api)eared to come from the dim outline of forest which skirted the 

 barren on our left, and at a great distance. 



" Down we all drop again in our deeply impressed couches to listen. 

 The sounds indicate that moose are travelling through the woods 

 and close to the edge of the barren. Presently the foremost moose 

 is abreast of our position, and gives vent to a wild and discordant 

 cry. This is the signal for a general uproar amongst the procession 

 of moose, for a whole troop of them are following at long and 

 cautious intervals. 



*' The timber is crashing loudly opposite to our position, and distant 

 reports show that more arc still coming on from the same direction. 

 A chorus of bellowings respond to the plaintive wail of the cow. 



