48 CERVIDiE. 



spondingly later in reappearing. A better idea of the 

 size of the full-grown antlers may be conveyed by a 

 comparison of their weight with that of the antlers of 

 the Highland red-deer. These, in a full-grown stag, 

 seldom weigh more than from twelve to thirteen pounds, 

 whereas the horns of an old Moose often attain to fifty 

 pounds and upwards, and have, I believe, been known to 

 weigh as much as sixty. 



The muscles of the neck are of extraordinary size 

 and development, and the neck itself, as if intended the 

 better to enable the animal to support the above enormous 

 weight, is excessively short, measuring not more than 

 twelve inches from the shoulder to the back of the head. 

 The fore legs at the same time are disproportionately 

 long, so that it can only graze with difficulty and in a 

 posture apparently extremely irksome, one fore foot being 

 awkwardly placed in front and the other thrown back 

 under the body. That this attitude is really inconve- 

 nient is proved by the fact that whenever possible they 

 give the preference to herbage lying on a slope, as being 

 more easily accessible. 



Nature has, however, in some measure compensated 

 for so inconvenient a neck by the extraordinary length and 

 prehensile power of the upper lip, or "mouffle," and also by 

 endowing the animal with a liking for young twigs, 

 tree-lichen, bark, and the tender branches of the birch, 



