MOOSE DEER. 
181 
we are describing, the lower and longest point on the palm is on one side 
12 inches, and on the corresponding one on the opposite side only 4 inches; 
on the remainder of the palm there ai’e on one side six points, on the other 
seven ; the palm is about half-an-inch in breadth at the centre, thickening 
towards the base to one inch. 
The horns are irregularly and slightly channelled, and are covered with 
whitish marks on the front surface, somewhat resembling the channels and 
irregular windings of grubs or sawyers between the bark and wood in 
old deca 3 'ed trunks of trees ; on the posterior surface these marks in 
form bear considerable resemblance to veins in the leaves of ferns. The 
width across the horns measuring from the outer tips rises 3 feet 4 inches ; 
weight of the horns, 42 pounds. 
The nose, including the nostrils, is thickly clothed with short hair — a tri- 
angular spot on the nose bare. The hair on the mane is coarse and compact, 
10 inches in length ; both surfaces of the ears are covered with dense hairs. 
The outer hair is throughout coarse and angular ; it is longer on the neck 
and shoulders than on any other part of the body ; under these long hairs 
there is a shorter, woolly, more dense and finer coat. 
COLOUR. 
The teeth are white ; horns brownish yellow, the extremities ol 
the prongs becoming yellowish white. The eyes are black ; nose, fore- 
head and upper lip, j^ellowish fawn ; inner surface of ears, j^ellowish white ; 
outer .surface, gra\'ish brown. Sides of head, j'cllowish brown. On the 
neck, dark grajush brown, composed of hairs that are white, black and j^el- 
low ; under the chin, yellowish brown. Hairs on the appendage under the 
throat, black ; lower lip and chin, dark gray, formed of a mixture of white 
and black hairs ; the softer, shorter hairs on the body are ashy gray ; the 
long hairs when examined separately are whitish at the base, then cinere- 
ous and tipped with black, giving it a brownish black appearance. 
On the under surface of the body the colour is considerably lighter than 
on the back, having a tinge of yellowish white ; under surface of the tail, 
a.shy white. The young animals, for the first winter, ar-e of a reddish 
brown colour; individuals even of the same age often differ in co- 
lour, some being darker than others, but there is always a striking diffe- 
rence between the summer and wunter colours, the hairs in winter be- 
coming darker ; as the moose advances in age, the colour continaes to 
decjJen until it appears black ; thence it was named bj" Hamilton Smitu, 
not inappropriately as regards colour, “the American Black Elk.” 
