434 WILD ANIMALS. 



will then have been worn off, and the horns stand forth in all their 

 glory, dark brown coloured, and well polished. 



The great expanse of the antlers would appear to any one not 

 knowing the facts, to be totally unfitted for a life among the 

 forest-trees, where the moose spend so large a portion of the year ; 

 but, as a matter of fact, they are but of little inconvenience, for 

 in common with all stags, when making their way through the 

 trees they carry the head well up, and the horns are in this way 

 kept lying horizontally along the back, which, to a considerable 

 extent, prevents their entanglement with the branches. 



In Smith's description of the moose, he says, " This animal is 

 the largest of the genus, being higher at the shoulders than the 

 horse ; its horns weigh sometimes near fifty pounds. Accordingly, 

 to bear this heavy weight, its neck is short and strong, taking 

 away much of the elegance of proportion so generally predominant 

 in the deer. But when it is asserted that the elk wants beauty 

 or majesty, the opinion can be entertained by those who have seen 

 the female only, the young, or the mere stuffed specimens ; for 

 us who have had the opportunity of viewing the animal in all the 

 glory of its full-grown horns, amid the scenery of his own 

 wilderness, no animal could appear more majestic, or more 

 imposing. It is however the aggregate of his appearance which 

 produces this effect ; for when the proportions of its structure are 

 considered in detail, they certainly will seem destitute of the 

 harmony of parts, which in the imagination produces the feeling 

 of beauty. The head, measuring above two feet in length, is 

 narrow and clumsily shaped by the swelling upon the upper part 

 of the nose and nostrils ; the eye is proportionably small and sunk ; 

 the ears long, hairy, and asinine, the neck and withers are 

 surmounted by a heavy mane, and the throat furnished with long, 

 coarse liair, and in younger specimens encumbered with a pen- 

 dulous gland ; these give altogether an uncouth character to this 

 part of the animal. Its body, however, is round, compact, and 

 short, the tail not more than four inches long, and the legs, 

 though very long, are remarkably clean and firm ; this length of 

 limbs, and the overhanging lips, have caused the ancients to fancy 

 that it grazed walking backwards. The hair of the animal is 



