The Moose and the Caribou. 
39 
the now tired moose and sees him more frequently, and at 
last, at some time during the day, the animal seems to 
decide that he has gofT? far enough, and turns at bay. Now 
is the hunter’s time for a shot, and should he fail to disable 
the moose, the moose may very possibly charge at him, so 
that he will be obliged to take to a tree for safety. It is 
sufficient, however, to jump behind a large tree, but it 
must be large enough to cover the man completely, for the 
moose, no matter how furiously he may advance, will not 
try to seek the man out unless he can see him plainly, 
but will stop short and stand still, waiting for him to re-ap- 
pear. I have more than once known a moose to crowd a 
hunter so closely behind a tree that, in striking with his 
fore-feet, he would strip off large pieces of bark, yet the 
creature would stay where he was and would never once 
think of looking for the man behind the tree. 
The average weight of a full-grown bull moose eight 
years of age is about a thousand pounds. Moose are sus¬ 
ceptible of being tamed, and several instances are recorded 
of their having been used as draught animals upon farms in 
Maine. 
The caribou (Rangifer caribou or R. tarandus ) or Amer¬ 
ican woodland reindeer, is closely related to the reindeer 
(Cervus tarandus) of Northern Europe, if not absolutely 
identical with it. Its distinctive name of “caribou” is a 
Canadian-French one, derived from the Indian. It inhabits 
the northern United States from Maine to Oregon, and 
northward through Canada to the treeless plains, where it 
seems to be replaced by another species, known as the barren- 
ground reindeer (R. groen/andicus). 
Unlike its European relative, the caribou does not seem 
capable of domestication. It roams the forests in large 
herds, travelling in single file, each herd having a recog¬ 
nized leader. Paths thus worn by the caribou are found 
throughout the Canadian forests and are often of great 
service to the hunter. 
In appearance the caribou, though one of the fleetest 
