108 HOOFED ANIMALS 
expense to the Government in the form of annual maintenance 
for starving natives. 
Through the initiative and efforts of Dr. Grenfell, the 
Reindeer has been successfully introduced in Labrador, for 
the benefit of the native population. 
Tur Moose! is the largest animal of the Deer Family, 
living or extinct. Even the Irish elk, with antlers which, in 
at least one specimen, spread 9 feet 2 inches, was a smaller 
animal. It is a satisfaction to know that the most colossal 
deer that ever trod the earth is alive to-day, and an inhabitant 
of our continent. 
It is not, however, an easy matter to convey a truthful 
and adequate impression of this antlered giant of the north. 
The young specimens occasionally seen for brief seasons in 
zoological parks and gardens are scarcely more than sugges- 
tions of the adult animal. The mounted groups in our large 
museums do indeed represent its full size; but to be fully 
appreciated the Moose must be seen alive, adult, full of 
strength and purpose, striding like a four-legged colossus 
through the evergreen forests of Canada or Alaska, or swing- 
ing away at incredible speed from the dangers of the chase. 
Imagine, if you can, an antlered animal standing between 
six and seven feet high at the shoulders, its legs quite four 
feet long, its neck and body covered with a heavy thatch of 
coarse, purplish-gray hair from three to six inches long and its 
huge head crowned with massive antlers spreading from five 
to six feet in width. Its head is among the lower branches 
1 Al’ces americanus. Called in Europe, the “Elk”; and our Elk is there 
called the “ Wap’i-ti.”” See Frontispiece. 
