MAMMALIA-MOOSE. 333 



in the fore feet, that he can kill a man by one single stroke of his foot ; 

 nevertheless, he is hunted nearly as we hunt the stag ; that is, with men 

 and dogs. It is affirmed, that when he is touched with the lance, or pur- 

 sued, it happens that he often falls down all at once, without either being 



pulled down or wounded. From this circumstance, some have presumed 

 he was subject to the epilepsy; and on this presumption, which is not well 

 founded, (since fear alone miglit be able to produce the same effect,) this 

 absurd conclusion has been drawn, that his hoof is a remedy for the epilep- 

 sy, and even preserves persons from it. His pace, when disturbed, is a 

 rapid kind of trot. In walking, be lifts his feet very high, and can, without 

 difficulty, step over a gate that is five feet high. 



Naturalists have generally considered the moose deer to be the same 

 species with the elk of the northern parts of the Old World ; but the fact 

 that few of the American quadrupeds have been found precisely similar to 

 their European representatives, ought to excite doubts of the identity of the 

 moose and Scandinavian elk. The moose exists in considerable numbers, 

 near the Bay of Fundy ; and frequents the woody tracts in the fur countries 

 to their most northern limit, and on the Mackenzie and Coppermine rivers, 

 where they feed on the willows and aspen. They are rarely, if ever, found 

 west of the Roclcy Mountains. In the more northern parts, the moose is 

 quite a solitary animal. It has the sense of hearing in very great perfection, 

 and is the most shy and wary of all the deer species, and on this account 

 moose hunting is looked upon as the greatest of an Indian's acquirements. 

 The skill of a moose hunter is most tried in the early part of the winter, 

 as the animal is tracked by its foot marks on the snow; and it is necessary 

 that he should keep constantly to leeward and use the utmost caution, for 

 the rustling of a leaf is sufficient to alarm the watchful beast. In this man- 

 ner, he tracks the animal, till by the marks on the snow he discovers that 

 he is very near to him. He then breaks a twig, which, alarming the moose, 

 it springs up and prepares to start. The hunter now fires, and seldom fails 

 in killing him. 



In the spring, when the snow is very deep, the hunters frequently chase 

 them on snow shoes. Notwithstandinsr the lengthened chase which the 



