66 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 
about sixteen and a half hands to be the average height of 
a full-grown male; but that certain localities — possibly 
where greater abundance of the most suitable food is to be 
found—produce much larger animals. All the moose that 
I have heard of being killed in Labrador—where the win- 
ters are particularly severe and vegetation sparse—have 
been smaller than those shot in the State of Maine; nor 
can I see any reason to doubt such being the case. We 
know how other genera are affected by such local pecul- 
iarities, and why should this animal be an exception? 
> It is the habit of sportsmen and naturalists to praise the 
appearance of the moose. My own impression is that there 
is no animal more ungainly, awkward-looking, and appar- 
ently disproportioned. That he is admirably constructed 
for the part he has to play in life, there is no question; but 
the very requisites with which he is endowed give him 
such an unusual appearance, that prejudice alone can call 
him handsome. 
The Virginian deer, the fallow deer, the Wapitti, and 
the red deer are to me perfect in shape, graceful in their 
movements, and ornamental to the landscape; but the 
moose, on the other hand, with his short, thick neck, asi- 
nine head, protruding eyes, heavy broad ears, tremendous 
antlers, long, awkward, powerful legs, and disproportionate 
withers, looking even higher than they are from the mane 
that surmounts them, can never be considered by an im- 
partial judge but an awkward and clumsy-looking brute. 
Of all the ruminants on the American continent, the 
moose is the tallest. I doubt not that a stall-fed ox can 
be made to weigh as heavy, but not to attain the stature; 
and on this account, as well as many others, it is really a 
duty that the Legislatures of the various States of which 
he is an inhabitant owe to the country at large to pass and 
enforce such laws as will prevent his ultimate annihilation. 
