186 
aiOOSE DEER. 
takes a firm hold and tears it away in strips more or less long and 
broad, according to the nature of the bark of the tree. 
It is ascertained by the hunter whether a Moose has been lately or not in its 
yard, by removing the surl’ace of the snow from around the foot of the trees 
already barked above, and if they have been barked below the surface of the 
snow, the animal has left the spot for sometime, and it is not worth while 
to follow any of its tracks. The contrary, of course, takes place wit h dif- 
ferent observations. At this season the female is generally accompanied 
by two of her calves, one two years old and generally a bull, the other the 
calf of the preceding spring. 
These animals vary much in their colour, some being grayish 
brown, and others nearly black. The grayish Moose is generally 
the largest, often reaching the height of seven or eight feet. The 
I'emales receive the males in the month of October, and at this period 
the latter are excessively vicious and dangerous when approached, whilst 
the females evince the same fierceness at the time of having calves. In 
some instances during the rutting season, when two males accidentally 
meet, they fight prodigiously hard, tearing up the earth beneath 
for yards around, and leaving marks of blood sufficient to prove that their 
encounter has been of the severest nature. 
Their usual mode of defence consists in striking at their enemies 
with their forefeet ; but in fighting with each other the males use 
both feet and horns, and they have sometimes been killed with marks 
of old wounds about their head and other parts of the body. As an 
instance of the force with which the Moose strikes, the following an- 
ecdote may be related: a bull-terrier in attempting to seize one by the 
nose, was struck by the animal with its forefoot, and knocked off to a dis- 
tance of twenty feet; the dog died next day. 
The Moose deer frequently turn against the hunters, even before being 
shot at or in the least wounded. They walk, trot, and gallop, and can leap a 
great distance at a single bound ; like other species of deer they bend their 
bodies very low at times, to pass beneath branches of fallen trees, not 
even half their height from the earth. When pursued, they enter the most 
tangled thickets, and pass through them as if not feeling the impediments, 
the brushwood, fallen logs, &c., opposed to the hunter’s progress. The calves 
when born are about the size of a few days old colt, but are more slender, 
and look very awkward on account of their apparent disproportionate 
long and large legs. When caught at three months old, they eat leaves, 
&c. ; but how long they are suckled by their dam we have not been able 
to ascertain. 
“ During the summer they frequently resort to the shores of rivers, 
