378 



APPENDIX 



any animal I am acquainted with, except the elephant; and 

 I should suppose that at least three square miles of suitable 

 forest would not support more than one elk continuously, judg- 

 ing from the number I have found in places where they were 

 at home and undisturbed." 



Official estimates indicate that 5000 moose are now living 

 on an area of 5300 square miles in northern Minnesota and 

 western Ontario (see pages 363-4). It is not stated that these 

 moose exhaust the available forage. These facts tend to 

 show that Mr. Elwes may be in error when he estimates that 

 three square miles of forest are required for the support of each 

 elk (or moose). Woodsmen whom I have questioned con- 

 sider three square miles ample permanent feeding-ground for 

 several moose. Of course much would depend on the char- 

 acter of the timber and undergrowth. Suitable feed is prob- 

 ably less abundant in the woods of Norway, where Mr. Elwes 

 hunted, than in the Superior and Quetico game reserves, 

 fifteen or sixteen degrees farther south. 



Writing of moose in Manitoba Ernest Thompson Seton de- 

 scribes an area of about 500 square miles where "there is a 

 moose population of a round lOOO, or two to the square mile. 

 This is what most hunters consider fairly good moose country, 

 although a rate ten times as high is found in some localities." 

 {Life Histories of Northern Animals [New York, 1909], 

 vol. i., p. 155.) If moose are present in any given area in 

 such numbers as even five or ten to the square mile, however, 

 it will be found, after a very few years, that some classes of 

 forage have become scarce, and then the animals will seek new 

 feeding grounds. Such fluctuations in the numbers present in 

 certain sections have been observed many times. The moose, 

 unlike the caribou, is not naturally a migratory animal, but he 

 is always ready to safeguard his future by a change of scene. 



The estimate of Hon. George Shiras, 3d, with regard to 

 the number of moose in a limited area on the upper Yellow- 

 stone is quoted at page 38, and at page 284 facts are given 

 which tend to show that certain East Prussian forests, before 



