HEADS AND HORNS 173, 



Single prongs of the antlers are often broken in 

 these mad onslaughts, but the main beam is 

 sufficiently elastic to withstand any sort of shock 

 without fracture. 



Moose live to be eighteen or twenty years of 

 age. After the bull has passed his prime the 

 antlers are usually of lighter color, and, owing to 

 the lower vitality, are dwarfed and imperfect, 

 though the body may continue to increase some- 

 what in size. Accordingly one should not expect 

 a record-breaking head if he kills a moose of 

 record-breaking stature. The coat of the moose, 

 too, loses its glossy brilliancy in old age, and the 

 color becomes a brownish gray. 



The antlers are closely associated physiologically 

 with the season of mating. The horns attain their 

 full growth in the summer, and then the velvet is 

 rubbed off, leaving the prongs bare and sharp, 

 just as the rutting season begins. Without his 

 antlers the bull in his prime would enjoy little 

 advantage over the three-year-old or the infirm 

 old-timer with stunted horns. But with massive 

 sharp-pointed fighting weapons, the most perfect 

 specimen is able to drive off weaker antagonists 

 — and thus, in the process of natural selection, the 

 blood of the next generation should show greater 



