138 THE DEER OF AMERICA. 



companies him in the chase of the Moose : " The younger animals 

 are darkest. As winter advances the hair grows longer and 

 gradually fades, becoming more gray." This fading out of the 

 color to a sort of gray, with advancing age, is a fact so well 

 recognized by all familiar with the animal, so far as I have been 

 able to learn, that I do not deem it necessary to multiply quota- 

 tions on the subject. That this is much more the case witli some 

 than with others, we may not question, any more than that indi- 

 viduals of all ages differ very appreciably in color, which is ad- 

 mitted by all. It is by far the darkest colored of all our deer, 

 and it is probably the darkest of any known deer of any part of 

 the world. It has always been recognized as much darker than 

 the Swedish elk, with which, I am entirely satisfied by critical 

 comparison, it is specifically identical. 



As I have expressed the opinion so confidently, that the Moose 

 has two pelages in the year, while admitting that I have not had 

 the opportunity to personally verify this fact, and have not the 

 direct evidence of any observer who has done so, it may be 

 proper that I should group together some of the evidence which 

 I think tends strongly to establish it. 



Let us again recur to what Dr. Gilpin says of the coat in 

 September of the three-year old male Moose : " The color of the 

 bull was in the highest summer coating of deep glossy black and 

 short as a well-groomed horse." Now this was at a time when 

 the other species of deer have just discarded the summer coat and 

 the new winter garb is just fairly developed. Had our author 

 seen him a month earlier, I am very sure he would have found 

 him less attractive, in a shabby fawn-colored summer dress, 

 already preparing to give place to the one described. 



At the time the Doctor wrote this description, his attention had 

 not been called to this second pelage of the Moose, nor do I any- 

 where find a direct examination of the subject by any author, 

 nor, so far as I know, have the hunters taken particular note of 

 it. Hardy says : " His coat now lies close, with a gloss reflect- 

 ing the sun's rays like that of a well-groomed horse." I find 

 abundant evidence that the Moose has a new coat in the fall in 

 many observations, like the above. Even without these, analogy 

 tells us that such must be the case, and we should require the 

 strongest evidence to dispute her teachings. The fact that the 

 Moose is oii.t of season and is never hunted when in the summer 

 coat, — that then they are without their antlers, and seek the 

 deepest seclusion, — explains how it is that they ai^e rai-ely seen 



