GENERAL NOTES 
143 
near the creek about 200 feet away. Noises made by twigs breaking, bushes 
rustling and a variety of grunting noises continued to come from that locality 
for about half an hour. Then two moose were heard to walk close by the cabin 
and away toward the north. Next morning, upon going to the creek, a moose 
trail was followed to the place from which the noises of the night had come, and 
in-the middle of the trail, surrounded by a small area of trampled bushes was a 
peculiar, freshly-formed, pit. This pit is the feature of special interest described 
in this statement. 
The soil on the trail was of clayey silt softened by the rains of the previous 
days. The pit was elliptical with diameters of about 2 feet and 18 inches ; it was 
2 inches deep near the center. Moose tracks were abundant in this vicinity and 
there were several at one side of the pit which showed that the hoofs had slipped 
in the mud. The inside of the pit was covered with fine parallel striations, and 
a few moose hairs occurred on its surface. From a study of the pit it was possible 
to determine that it had not been made by pawing or rolling but that it had been 
made by the body of the moose sliding in the mud. 
Subsequently, the main moose trail which led north from this point was fol- 
lowed; and at a distance of 10 chains a similar pit was found. The next day two 
other pits of similar character were observed on moose trails, one being in sand 
and not distinctly marked as were those in clay. 
A local hunter was shown some of these pits and asked what they meant. He 
supposed that they indicated the site of a combat between bull moose. He 
stated that he had never observed them at any other time of the year than the 
late fall. He had not previously noted the striated surface of the pits nor the 
lack of a second one which would presumably be formed if two animals opposed 
their horns and pushed. 
The writer advances the suggestion that these depressions are formed by 
moose during copulation. Such a structure would be the obvious result if the 
animals follow the procedure of cats, the female lying down. 
—T. L. Tanton. 
Ottawa, Canada. 
BBEEDING OP THE BRAZILIAN TAPIR 
The following breeding record of a pair of Brazilian tapirs (Tapirus terrestris) 
in the collection of the National Zoological Park covers a period of 16 years* 
The male was obtained at Manaos, Brazil, in the spring of 1899, by Commander 
C. C. Todd, U. S. N., while in command of the U. S. Gunboat Wilmington during 
her voyage up the Amazon. The female, which was bred and reared in the 
botanical gardens at Demerara, arrived at the Park in August, 1901. The male 
was about one year old, and the female probably between 3 and 5 years, when 
received. 
The first birth from the pair occurred May 15, 1903, and the young came rather 
regularly thereafter, the record being as follows: 
JOURNAL OP MAMMALOGY, VOL. I, NO. 3 
