THE VANISHING MOOSE. 



353 



ever, apparently authentic, have been reported 

 when 2000 pounds have been claimed. The 

 great difficulty is to find anywhere near their 

 haunts scales which can weigh so huge an ani- 

 mal, for if gralloched and carted out, much of 

 the original weight is lost. 



They begin their battles early in life, for 

 a four-year-old bull, shot last autumn on the 

 Ottawa, when skinned showed on one side a 

 fresh wound with a shattered rib beneath it, 

 and on the other, the scars of an old wound 

 where another rib had been broken the year 

 before. His latest combat had evidently been 

 successful, for when shot he had two cows with 

 him as proof of triumph . AVhether in his maiden 

 battle of the year before he had been victori- 

 ous over his rival it would be interesting to 

 know, for he was a brave brute, who met his 

 death from pure love of a fight. Hearing the 

 approach of hunters, and probably thinking 

 the noise came from another bull, he turned 

 back to defend his charge, freshly wounded as 

 he was, and deliberately stalked up to within 

 thirty yards of his enemy, only to fall with a 

 bullet below his ear. 



Early in September, before they are mated, 

 in a good moose country it is no uncommon 

 thing to hear their challenging calls, which 

 sound precisely like a man chopping, and their 

 combats are of daily, or rather nightly, occur- 

 rence. Indian hunters say that when they hear 

 in the twilight the breaking of the undergrowth 

 and the crash of antlers in one of these mighty 

 battles, they sHp up close and shoot the cow 

 as she stands placidly at one side watching the 

 result with languid interest. When she falls 

 the bulls fight on with redoubled fury, and so 

 intent are they on the duel that both can be 

 killed with ease. If, however, a bull is shot first, 

 the survivors take to the bush at the report. As 

 in the case of battles between deer or elk, the 

 horns are said sometimes to become so inter- 

 locked that they cannot be pulled apart, and 

 both animals perish miserably. From the 

 structure of the horns, however, this must be a 

 very rare event, but a pair of interlocked horns 

 were found in Oxford Countv, Maine, about 

 1845. 



There are two varieties of moose, according 

 to experienced hunters, the chief difference 

 being in the antlers. The smaller, the kind 

 most often found in Maine and New Bruns- 

 wick, has small antlers, inclined upward, with 

 wide palmations and having many points. This 

 is a dark-colored, short-legged swamp breed. 

 The other, which ranges further north and 

 west, and in Ontario about equals in numbers 

 the former kind, has the grand antlers we oc- 

 casionally see — wide-spreading, more sym- 

 metrical, and with from eight to twelve points, 

 and very massive brow-antlers. As the palma- 

 VoL. XLVII.— 46. 



tion, or webbing, is not so wide as in the first 

 variety, the points are longer. This kind is 

 browner in color, and has longer legs than the 

 other. Like the antlers of other deer, those of 

 the moose are not constant in shape or size, and 

 vary from year to year, and even one blade 

 from its mate. The size is probably in great 

 degree dependent on the way the animal win- 

 tered, for the drain of the system must be very 

 great to produce such a mass of bone. If the 

 preceding season was an open one, so that 

 plenty of good food could be found, the moose 

 of course would be in condition, and the horns 

 consequently would appear early in the spring 

 and attain their full development. If a severe 

 winter should follow, the next set of horns 

 might be very backward and much smaller. 



A large pair measures from three to four feet 

 from tip to tip. Now and then a pair will exceed 

 five feet. One killed in 1 88 1 measured five feet 

 six inches from the extreme points. Mr. Albert 

 Bierstadt, the artist, is in possession of an im- 

 mense pair of moose antlers measuring five feet 

 five inches at the widest point. The webbing is 

 remarkably wide. A gentleman of Mattawa, 

 Ontario, has a pair which measures five feet 

 eleven inches from tip to tip. This seems to be 

 the limit. An interesting theory has been ad- 

 vanced to account for the palmation of the 

 horns : that being placed below and behind 

 the ears, they act as a sounding-board and 

 give the animal his great quickness of hearing. 



The height of moose at the withers is a source 

 of much dispute, and this variation largely 

 grows out of the different ways of measuring 

 one as he lies on the ground. An ordinary 

 bull stands fully six feet, and a ver\' large one 

 seven feet at the shoulders. There are many 

 authenticated cases where they ran as high as 

 seven feet two inches and seven feet four inches. 

 In October, 1880, George Ross killed in Mus- 

 koka a moose which, when carefully measured 

 by several persons, stood eight feet two inches 

 at the shoulders ! His antlers alone weighed 

 eighty-four pounds ! This seems beyond the 

 possible limits, but gigantic moose do occur, es- 

 pecially in this part of Canada. Indian legends 

 abound in stories of moose of fabulous size. 

 The Sioux Indians believed in a monstrous 

 moose which could stride with ease through 

 eight feet of snow, and which no single hunter 

 dared attack. Alaska and Rupert's Land fur- 

 nish material for similar tales. At all events, 

 the moose is the largest quadruped on our con- 

 tinent, and \\nth his strength and swiftness has 

 only man to dread, as the bear lacks both the 

 courage and agility necessary, and the wolf 

 or panther would scarcely dare to attack any 

 but a ver)' young calf. 



Of the various modes of hunting moose, the 

 most destructive is " crusting " in the deep 



