120 GILPIN ON THE MAMMALIA OF NOVA SCOTIA. 



carried,* as well also that the bones of the vast head are not heavier 

 than those of ordinary deer. The huge nostrils are cavernous and 

 hollow, — and the pendulous lips with no boney base. This elonga- 

 tion of the cannon bones, both makes him straddling in his gait, 

 and diminishes his speed when out of cover. The hind leg must 

 outstep the fore, and hence it must go outside of it, or straddle. 

 The very short cannon bone of the greyhound w4th the enormous 

 fore arm, and the approximation to it caused by breeding in 

 the race horse, the very opposite to the moose, show that their 

 forms are the best adapted to fleetness. But on the other hand he 

 strides over every obstacle, mounted upon his huge stilts. It is 

 probable this boreal form so existed with many now extinct forms 

 who£!e fossil bones are found in the post and upper tertiary deposits. 

 American naturalists have found his fossil bones in the upper 

 tertiary formations in Ohio ; and as, so far, they have not been 

 found in the old world, we may claim our Moose as the original 

 type. 



With the Caribou it is probable that he was one of the earliest 

 fauna that arrived after the glacial period, and, as far as any exist- 

 ing causes show, he may be one of the last remaining. As in 

 Canada and New Brunswick, he cannot fall back upon back forests. 

 He is surrounded on all sides by cultivation or the sea ; and in 

 diminished numbers, he may possibly remain for ages on the 

 shallow lakes, impassable swamps and barrens forming our interior. 

 He can exist on a less range than the caribou ; he is less intolerant 

 of the sights and smells of civilization. Nothing but the encroach- 

 ments of roads, of setlements and railroads, destroying his range, 

 can extirpate him. Our bears trouble him not, nor have we wolves 

 to band in packs to hunt him down ; and notwithstanding the Game 

 Protection Society, our settlers do not diminish his numbers. The 

 work is too hard, — there are too few to risk the toil. Now, 

 though coaches do daily run, and taverns fling out their signs 



♦The back of the head being usually carried in a line with the top of the 

 shoulder, or withers, a strong tendon passes between them, thus throwing the weight 

 of the head and horns upon the shoulders. Thus they are not supported by muscular 

 contraction. Otherwise the animal would pass his whole life in adjusting the load, 

 ever varying from nothing to fifty pounds thrown upon his neck. 



