74 THE DEER OF AMERICA. 
Under other conditions the keen senses of smell and hearing 
make it difficult to approach the Moose, and the sagacity with 
which he eludes his enemies and the endurance with which he 
flees from them makes his pursuit even with firearms a difficult 
and laborious affair. 
FORM AND SIZE. 
In form the. Moose is an ungainly animal ; short body, a very 
short tail and neck with a prodigiously long, ugly head, with a 
projecting nose or upper lip, which give the animal a revolting 
look. He has enormous ears, short spreading palmated antlers, 
and very long legs, to which he is indebted for his great height, 
which some authors have stated has sometimes exceeded eight 
feet. Itis safe to say, without the fear of exaggerating, that they 
sometimes attain a height of six feet at the wethers, or even more 
in extreme cases. 
The average weight of the adult male Moose may be given as 
seven hundred pounds, while I think the statement well authen- 
ticated that specimens of twice that weight have been killed. 
The male Moose, and sometimes the female as well, is fur- 
nished with a pendulous appendage under the throat. This may 
varfin length from four to ten inches on different individuals. 
It is covered with long coarse black hairs. Its diameter outside 
the hairs is about one fourth its length. This by some has been 
supposed to be of a glandular structure, but on examination it is 
found to be simply dermal, without any muscular tissue. The 
one I dissected was five inches long, without the hairs, and half 
an inch in diameter ; simply a round piece of skin of uniform 
bigness its whole length, thickly set with the coarse hairs all 
around. These occupy a descending position all the way. They 
are quite firm, elastic, and enduring, like those of the mane of 
the horse, and probably are not shed with the rest of the coat, 
spring and fall. This bell, as it is called by the hunters, is not 
found on the young male, and disappears when the animal gets old 
and his vigor and vitality are on the decline, so that it is in gen- 
eral confined to the male Moose in the prime of life, although as 
stated it is in rare instances found on the females. I will sug- 
gest, without the authority of positive information, that these 
females would, upon examination, be found to be azcepuionally 
vigorous. 
I am not prepared to offer any conjecture as to the purposes 
of this appendage, — which after all seems to be transitory, — in the 
