THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE MOOSE IN NEW 
ENGLAND. 
BY Js A.-ALLEN. 
In consequence of their large size, the value of their flesh, 
and the pleasure attending their chase, the different members 
of the deer family ( Cervidæ) are among the first to disappear 
before the progress of civilization in a newly settled country. 
The moose (Alce malchis), like the caribou ( Tarandus ran- 
gifer), doubtless once existed in Southern New England, 
though I have seen no record of its occurrence in the south- 
eastern portions since the settlement there of Europeans. It 
probably remained in the mountainous districts till a later 
period, but for many years has been extinct in Massachu- 
setts, Southern Vermont and New Hampshire, and Southern 
Maine. 
In answer to my inquiries in respect to its present 
southern limit in Maine, Mr. J. G. Rich, the well-known 
hunter and trapper, writes me in substance as follows: "Al- 
though now scarce in that state, it is first met with on the 
Penobscot at about eighty miles above Bangor; on the Ken- 
nebee north of the Forks in Somersett county ; at Kennebago 
Lake, and to the northward of Rangely Lake in Franklin 
county; and north of the Agiscohas Mountain on the Marg- 
alloway River, in Oxford county.” A few also exist in the 
extreme northern parts of New Hampshire and Vermont. 
and in the Adirondacks of New York. As the experienced 
hunter finds it a not very difficult animal to capture, the 
moose unless protected by law, must soon become extinct 
throughout the New England States. The legislature of 
Maine has already passed a stringent game law for their pro- 
tection, which it is to be hoped may be carefully enforced. 
Mr. Rich’s long experience as a trapper and hunter in the 
Maine woods, has rendered him thoroughly familiar with the 
(585) 
