THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
doubtful if the simple forked antlers are a permanent character, a point 
which Mr Lydekker now recognizes. 
The Yakutsk Race. Alces machlis yakutskensis (Millais, “ Field , ” July 8, 
1911). Hab., Yakutsk, Okhotsk and probably Kamchatka. A large blackish 
brown elk with brown legs, the animal being very similar to the elk of 
Alaska. The horns are larger than European or Siberian elk and well 
palmated. So far I have only seen skulls shown of this elk from North- 
West Siberia, and these are very similar to Russian specimens. 
AMERICAN RACES 
The East American Race. Alces machlis americanus (Jardine, “Nat. 
Lib.-Mamm.,” Vol. Ill, p. 125, 1835). Hab., America and Canada east of 
the Rocky Mountains. A blackish brown elk with grey or nearly pure 
white legs. 
The Giant American Race. Alces machlis gigas (Miller). Hab., the Alaskan 
peninsula, Northern Alaska and British Columbia. A very large moose 
of blackish brown or black colour, with brown legs. A tuft of emerald green 
hair between the toes. I have included British Columbia as the range of 
this race, on the authority of Mr Clifford Little, who has shot many speci- 
mens both in the Kenai peninsula and in Cassiar, where he states that 
both animals are identical in size and colour, although the horns of Kenai 
specimens are far finer. Two bulls, shot by myself in Cassiar, answered 
in every way to the description of the giant moose. There is every reason 
to believe that the giant moose extends far to the South in British Columbia, 
in districts where hunters have not yet penetrated. The moose of Fort 
George and East Kootenay have not yet been described, but I expect that 
they will prove to be a smaller local race of the above. 
The Yellowstone Race, or Shira’s Moose, Alces machlis shirari. A small 
moose, with very dark body markings and blackish legs. A yellowish 
mane on the top of the neck. Horns as a rule small, but not always so, a 
specimen with 60 -inch horns spread having recently been killed by Carl 
Rungius near the Yellowstone Park. 
Distribution: Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, and probably into South- 
Eastern British Columbia. 
The early French voyageurs of the sixteenth century were the first 
white men to observe the American moose and had some difficulty in giving 
so strange a beast a name. Wherefore they called it “ Une type, un original.” 
236 
