THE MOOSE OR FLAT-HORNED ELK 
double blade in which the palms break into two separate spades, each 
furnished with a row of points. 
Captain Radclyffe has a remarkable head of this description shot by 
himself in the Kenai Peninsula, and Sir Edmund Loder has another from 
Eastern Canada. 
The size and shape of the antlers of the moose have little relation to the 
age of the animal, for after the third year they are large, small, palmated 
or forked according to individual variation. 
A young bull moose grows his first pair of horns — two small spikes — 
in the second summer, casting these the following spring. In the ensuing 
year he grows two longer prongs of varying length with the ends turned 
slightly upwards. In each succeeding year there is an addition of points and 
palmation which may be greatly increased at the fourth year. After this 
the full head is obtained and the animal is probably at his best at twelve to 
fourteen years, as with other deer. The adult horns are shed between 
December and February. In the horns of old moose the palmation is wide, 
but the points show a tendency to become shorter and blunter as age in- 
creases and the quality of horn is impaired with holes and abrasions. 
Old animals, too, like red deer and wapiti, seem to have some difficulty 
in shedding the velvet. “ Locked ” horns, which occur more frequently 
amongst caribou, wapiti, red deer, white -tailed and mule deer, are very 
rare. Mr Sheard has a remarkable pair found in Alaska. The “ bell ” on 
the throat of the moose is a very peculiar feature and varies much in length. 
It is merely an elongated piece of skin, full of bloodvessels, and covered with 
long black hair. It is rare to see a large one in adult bulls. Sometimes it is 
round and sometimes flat and in some cases of young bulls very much elon- 
gated. It is usually about 3 to 5 inches long, exclusive of hair, but I have 
seen a photo of one killed in Manitoba that was 18 inches long. Cows some- 
times have these “bells,” in fact, one female, mounted by Mr Darbey, of 
Winnipeg, of which I possess a photo, has a bell 38 inches long. It does not 
seem that this bell has any gland or scent, nor is it known that it performs 
any function for the animal. There is reason to believe that this feature dries 
up as the age of the animal increases, a surmise that is perhaps correct, as 
we have never seen “ bells ” of 12 and 14 inches, which often occur in 
young bulls, on the necks of adults. Mr Fred Talcott, writing in “ Forest 
and Stream ” (March 25, 1899, p. 224) says, in speaking of moose in Roger 
Williams Park, Providence, Rhode Island, “ as the antlers increased the 
bell also increased until 13 or 14 inches long; and after the antlers were 
dropped, December 1, the bell decreased in length.” 239 
