]\IAMMALS OF NOETHERN CANADA 159 



have ever been since. In the vicinity of farming and ranch- 

 ing settlements, however, they would seem to have become 

 somewhat accustomed to the not distant presence of man, 

 as is surely evidenced by their comparative abundance still 

 in the eastern sections of the Province of Manitoba (and 

 elsewhere), although they have been much hunted there of 

 late years. ISTo doubt the close season and the due enforce- 

 ment of the relatively restrictive killing law have been im- 

 portant accounting factors for this state of affairs, which is 

 so satisfactory not only to naturalists and sportsmen but 

 also to other interested residents. 



During summer, when the weather is warm and mos- 

 quitoes very troublesome, moose resort for protection to the 

 shores of laJces and streams, and while .standing in the water 

 they sometimes seem quite indifferent to the near presence 

 of man, and will then retire only after being repeatedly fired 

 at. I myself had proof of this on one occasion when ascend- 

 ing the Anderson River in the end of June, 1866. There 

 were five or six in the party when we -observed three full- 

 grown moose in the water. As they were not in good condi- 

 tion, we did not care to kill them, but, in order to test the 

 truth of this peculiarity, I made the Indians fire a number 

 of shots very close to them, but to no purpose. In fact, we 

 had to scream and yell at them before they got out and 

 stalked away at a very leisurely pace. According to a con- 

 sensus of Indian reports from various quarters, the moose 

 copulate annually during the months, or moons, of Septem- 

 ber and October, and the offspring appear some nine months 

 later. The female generally selects a dense thicket on a lake 

 island or islet, or in a clump of trees on a dry spot in the 

 midst of a marshy swamp or other submerged tract of for- 

 est, for the purpose of bringing forth her young, which are 

 usually one or two, and occasionally, it is said, as many as 

 three, in number. At birth the hair-covering is very short 

 and of a dirty-yellowish color, the eyes are open, and the 

 newcomer is rather weak and helpless ; but, after a compara- 

 11 



