The Moose and the Caribou. 
37 
but more especially with reference to a food supply. The 
snow in these spaces is kept well trodden down by the 
passing and repassing of the herd in their search for food, 
which at these times principally consists of the bark of the 
yellow birch. Hunters say that the moose, though he eats 
largely of this bark, never completely girdles a tree but 
always leaves the circle unfinished, so that the further 
growth of the tree is not checked and a future supply of 
food is thus provided for. Another of his favorite foods is 
the moose-bush, the clusters of red berries of which are 
covered by an enveloping leaf, so that they are not con¬ 
spicuous, and the moose is said to eat but sparingly of 
these berries, so as to preserve the supply as long as pos¬ 
sible. During the four months or so that the moose inhabit 
their “yards” they naturally lose in flesh, and are quite 
thin as spring approaches, but when the first few warm days 
have thawed the snow they commence to travel again, and 
so find a better supply of food and soon begin to regain 
their flesh. 
I believe that there is but one thing that a bull moose is 
really afraid of and that is a man. Of horned creatures he 
has no fear, and he has often been seen associating with do¬ 
mestic cattle in their pastures, though he has never been 
observed to graze as they do. The packs of wolves which 
used to harrass the moose in the Maine forests are now a 
thing of the past, and the panther, or “Indian devil,” is a 
very infrequent visitor. The bear is the only native animal 
which can compete with the moose in single combat, and he 
rarely attacks anything but the cows. The whole look and 
bearing of the bull seem to show that he feels himself to be 
the king of the forest He is certainly twice as large as the 
next animal in size, and he is equipped with a formidable pair 
of horns and has as his principal weapons his sharp-edged 
fore-hoofs with which he can, by rearing, strike as with trip¬ 
hammers and cut as with knives These hoofs are also of 
great aid to him in winter, as their sharpness enables him to 
walk over smooth ice which is less easily passable to other 
