234 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 
La Hontan in this passage confounds the Canada stag and moose deer together. 
He mentions the animal being able to run, in the summer season, for three days and 
nights in succession, and the excellent flavour of its flesh,—facts which apply to the 
moose deer, but not to the Canada stag ; on the other hand, the weight of the horns, 
which, he says, sometimes amounts to four hundred weight, is true only of the stag. 
In like manner, the accounts of the other early writers on Canada are liable to sus- 
picion. In the more northern parts, the moose deer is quite a solitary animal, more 
than one being very seldom seen at a time, unless during the rutting season, or 
when a female is accompanied by her fawns. It has the sense of hearing in very 
great perfection, and is the most shy and wary of all the deer species; and on this 
account the art of moose-hunting is looked upon as the greatest of an Indian’s 
acquirements, particularly by the Crees, who take to themselves the credit of 
being able to instruct the hunters of every other tribe. The skill of a moose- 
hunter is most tried in the early part of the winter; for during the summer the 
moose, as well as other animals, are so much tormented by musquitoes, that they 
become regardless of the approach of man. In the winter the hunter tracks the 
moose by its foot-marks in the snow, and it is necessary that he should keep con- 
stantly to leeward of the chase, and make his advances with the utmost caution, for 
the rustling of a withered leaf, or the cracking of a rotten twig, is sufficient to alarm 
the watchful beast. The difficulty of approach is increased by a habit which the 
moose deer has of making daily a sharp turn in its route, and choosing a place 
of repose so near some part of its path, that it can hear the least noise made by 
one that attempts to track it. To avoid this, the judicious hunter, instead of 
_ walking in the animal’s footsteps, forms his judgment, from the appearance of the 
country, of the direction it is likely to have taken, and makes a circuit to leeward, 
until he again finds the track. ‘This manceuvre is repeated, until he discovers, by 
the softness of the snow in the foot-marks and other signs, that he is very near the 
chase. He then disencumbers himself of every thing that might embarrass his 
motions, and makes his approach in the most cautious manner. If he gets close 
to the animal’s lair, without being seen, it is usual for him to break a small twig, 
which, alarming the moose, it instantly starts up; but, not fully aware of the 
danger, squats on its hams, and voids its ure, preparatory to setting off. In 
this posture it presents the fairest mark, and the hunter’s shot seldom fails to take 
effect ina mortal part. In the rutting season the bucks lay aside their timidity, 
and attack every animal that comes in their way, and even conquer their fear of man 
himself. The hunters then bring them within gun-shot, by scraping on the blade- 
