ORDER VIII. THE RUMINANTIA. 299 



sometimes attaining the heiglit of seven feet, and a weight of ten or eleven 

 hundred pounds. The antlers or horns are peculiar. Two trunks spring 

 upward, and somewhat backward from the apex of the head, from vvhicli 

 others shoot forth, spreading out like the branches of a scraggy oak. These 

 appendages, although strong, are not usually employed as weapons of de- 

 fence, although we remember an instance, when we were a youth, where a 

 hunter was seized on the antlers of the infuriated and bewildered beast, and 

 made to take a fearful ride tlu-ough the forest. 



The moose is often hunted with the gun in the summer and autumn, but 

 in winter tiic hunters prefer to seek it in its lair. The favorite food of these 

 animals is the supple and tender twigs of the maple, yellow birch, willow, and 

 particularly of a graceful and elegant shrub known as moose-tvood. In 

 thickets, where there is an abundance of these trees, they make their retreat, iu 

 small parties, tram[)ling down the snow and forming a kind of enclosure, 

 which is enlarged as they forage outwards, after having exhausted the supply 

 iu the centre. This enclosure often proves a fatal prison and snare to them. 



There is nothing more exciting than the chase of the moose, as we know 

 by experience. The hunters go in small parties oi three or four, provided 

 with snow-slioes, hand-sleds, blankets, a supply of provisions, and cooking 

 utensils. The march over frozen lakes and rivers, and through the primeval 

 forests, produces an exhilaration of spirits far beyond the power of sparkling 

 champagne or far-famed Burgundy, and infinitely more salubrious ; and 

 when the hunter has lighted his camp-fire, and, wrapped in his blanket, lies 

 down on the soft and fragrant hemlock fuliagc to rest, he is lulled to sleep 

 by the mysterious song of the wind and trees, — that wonderful, almost 

 spiritual cadence, which rolls, like the low tones of an organ, through the 

 boundless woods, plunging the soul into a delicious reverie, and transforming 

 the hunter, for the time being, into a poet. 



The moose is keen-scented, and nuist be approached from the leeward. A 

 slight fall of rain and a thaw, suddenly followed by freezing, are favorable to 

 the hunters, as they can glide swiftly over the icy surface, while the poor 

 hunted animals, scenting danger from afir, and striving to flee, slump through 

 the treacherous crust, and wound their legs in attempts to extricate them- 

 selves : they are thus easily overtaken. As the moose fights bravely and 

 effectively with its fore feet, the hunter contrives to get in the rear and ham- 

 strings it, when it falls an easy prey. 



The American elk is an Awkward looking animal, of a brown color, vary- 

 ing in shades, but we have never seen a specimen so dark us the one figured 

 by Colonel Smith. The gait of the animal is neither a gallop nor trot, but a 

 kind of shambling pace, and not remarkable for swiftness. Its flesh is about 

 the color of that of a year old calf, and is finely flavored, and we have never 



