664 NOTES OF A FUR HUNTER. 
tree, but this is not the rule. They seem to tear the bark 
up with the teeth of the lower jaw. Sometimes they may 
be found in the spring not more than a mile away from 
where they began in the fall. 
They like best the bark of moose wood (the small 
maple with dark striped bark), mountain ash, and swamp 
maple. They take the bark of the mountain ash more 
than of any other tree; but they browse the twigs of the 
swamp maple most. They will also browse fir and willow 
and moose bush, and sometimes cut the bark of poplar. 
They also frequent ponds for the pond lily and the yellow 
lily. 
The largest herd I ever saw had nine in it, but they 
more often live in herds of four or five. The female 
brings forth two calves, and they stay with the old cow 
the summer and winter following. The males more often 
yard by themselves, but are sometimes found with the 
female. The sexes come together about the last of Sep- 
tember or the first of October, say from September 20th 
to October 20th. 
Moose are not now very plenty about here, but ten 
years ago they were plenty. I killed two in one August 
night in Lower Ebeeme pond. They come into the ponds 
to feed on the lilies. I have seen them in the pond the 
first of June, with the water half way up their sides, 
reaching down and taking up the roots of the yellow lily. 
They come out on very soft bog with no trouble; they ~ 
drop their body so as partly to swim and partly to wade 
till they come to shore, then they put their nose on the 
shore, if it is soft, then raise their forelegs, and then 
their hind legs one at atime. When swimming undis- 
turbed, I have seen a moose settle down under the water 
a — De or four rode and then rise and snort 
