THE MOOSE DEER. Aq 
Tennessee, in all of which it has now ceased to exist, to 
the great prairie states of the west and the foot of the 
Rocky Mountains, in many of which it is still found 
frequently, although it cannot be said to abound until 
you pass the Mississippi and even go beyond the cross 
timbers. Why this deer ever received the title of 
Cervus Canadensis, it is difficult to state, as I find no 
indication of its ever having existed in Canada, but I 
fancy it has arisen from a mistaken application of the 
French term Orignal, or Elk, to this animal, which is 
beyond doubt really applicable to the Moose, that 
animal being, in fact, as I have observed, the Elk of 
Europe, and having the flat palmated horns of that 
species, whereas the Wapiti has the round branching 
antlers of the red deer of Europe, Cervus Elaphus, to 
which animal it bears a very strong analogy, and except 
in its vast superiority of size, closely resembles. 
The Moose is the largest of all the deer tribe, an old 
bull standing full eighteen hands high at the shoulder, 
or six feet common measure, while the cows do not fall 
short of fourteen or fifteen. The fore-legs of this deer 
are very disproportionately long as compared to the 
hind legs, and the shoulder stands so much higher than 
the rump, that at a casual glance you would suppose the 
-animal to be standing wp hill. His neck is so short and 
cumbrous that he cannot graze on the ground without 
much difficulty, straddling his fore-legs very wide apart, 
and even then gathering his food from a plain surface 
