FOREST AND STREAM 
745 
quickly answered from beneath the near shore, 
by a bellowing roar that was a sound to inspire 
one with a deep feeling of appreciation for the 
handy trees which might form a retreat in time 
of need. The roar of a bull moose is a sound 
which it is safe to say is seldom heard by the 
ordinary camper. It is used only when two rival 
bulls meet in battle. The roar of the near moose 
was answered by a coughing, bellowing chal¬ 
lenge from the approaching rival and as the 
two moose hastened to meet in combat, in that 
moment all Nature seemed at a stand-still. The 
woods vibrated with ear jarring volumes of 
harsh voiced, open defiance. A porcupine in 
his tree ceased to feed, the woodmice beneath 
the dry leaves were as still as death, and the 
two campers marvelled at the wildly powerful 
notes which two rival bull moose could deliber¬ 
ately unroll from their spacious chests. It is a 
sound which the pen can but feebly express, yet 
to Pardner and his pal, it seemed like a cross 
between the lion’s roar and the obstreperous 
•whinny of a mule. 
Mid sounds of breaking sticks, grunts of rage 
and hatred, mingled with clashing antlers, two 
very nervous campers made their way down to 
the shore line of the island, from whence they 
could get a better view of the mainland. It was 
only a short stone’s throw across the waters, 
and squatting down among the big boulders they 
listened to a battle of the monarchs. Finally 
the sounds led downward toward the lake. One 
bull was evidently forcing his adversary to the 
water. At last, out into the moonlight came the 
dark forms of the giant bulls. One came un¬ 
willingly, being literally shoved down a steep 
bank and prodded into the lake. Whether the 
cooling water affected his fighting ardor or not, 
was never known, but at this stage of affairs 
he evidently considered that he was justified in 
retiring. With a vicious shake of his antlers he 
plunged into the lake and swam away into the 
darkness. 
He passed so close to the two campers that 
Pardner Jack nervously fingered his 38-55 rifle, 
but the wind was right and he passed on, to 
nurse his wounds, if any, on distant shores, 
while the two campers witnessed, as viewed by 
the light of the moon, a most amusing sight. 
Walking down to the lake the victorious bull 
looked out over the water in a most puzzled 
and expectant way. In the distance his rival 
was swimming, defeated. For a moment he 
cocked his big ears in that direction; then, turn¬ 
ing his antlered head he looked for the object 
of this unusual attraction. For several moments 
he stood immovable, vainly listening for some 
sound which would analyze the situation. The 
breeze was favorable to the watchers and over 
the lake a graveyard stillness pervaded, which 
they were careful not to break. Dim, black 
hills showed down the lake shore, and fleecy 
mists moved out of the gloom and floated be¬ 
fore the moon. Fragile stems of white birches 
and tag alder made a faint tracery of detail in 
the foreground, while beyond, in the deeper 
gloom, rose the taller trees, the pines and firs. 
Ragged cedars, spiked balsams, age worn hills, 
crowned this wilderness. It was indeed the 
world of the moose, and, as the big animal 
looked out over the lake, suddenly his keen nos¬ 
trils seemed to detect the presence of man. With 
a loose-lipped, rattling snort he wheeled, the 
bushes parted before his antlered, proudly car¬ 
ried head, and there disappeared from view, 
truly, a king of the Minnesota woods. 
GROUSE SHOOTING IN GREAT BRITAIN. 
The 12th of August was the opening day for the 
grouse-shooting season, but this year there has 
not been the usual rush to the Yorkshire moors and 
to Scotland. Many of the large shootings, es¬ 
pecially in Scotland, have not been let, and even 
where proprietors have been successful in secur¬ 
ing tenants they have had to accept considerably 
lower rents. 
In order to prevent overstocking of the moors, 
which is apt to result in damage being done to crops 
by the game and also in the spread of disease 
among the birds, the House of Lords introduced 
a bill to open the season earlier than the estab¬ 
lished date, but it did not become law. Lord 
Lovatt, speaking in the House of Lords, said that 
the total grouse rents of Great Britain amount 
to nearly a million pounds sterling ($4,866,500) 
per annum, and “over and above that amount 
spent by strangers, who are often foreigners, is 
probably an equivalent sum. The rental per acre 
of grouse moors is often ten times as much as 
the rental per acre for grazing.” 
It is said that in an average year about 2,000,- 
000 grouse are killed, and at a time like this 
when prices of meat have risen so considerably 
it would be wrong to allow such a supply of food 
to be wasted. Moreover, in many instances wise 
and charitable arrangements for the disposal of 
the birds have been made, the King, for example, 
having given orders that all game killed on his 
own moors, with the exception of that required 
by the Royal household, shall be distributed 
among the naval and military hospitals. 
In regard to the suggestion that the curtail¬ 
ment of shooting might result in an unusual num¬ 
ber of birds to prey on farmers’ crops, it is per¬ 
haps of interest to state that complaints of such 
damage in Yorkshire have been rare. Grain-eat¬ 
ing birds like the pheasant and partridge are not 
preserved to so large an extent as grouse. The 
grouse keep closely to the great tracts of heather 
on the moors and offer little or no menace to 
farm crops. 
BIG GAME IS SAID TO BE PLENTIFUL. 
Duluth, Minn.—Although chickens and par¬ 
tridges afforded but little sport this year because 
of their scarcity, big game hunting has been 
more than ordinarily good. 
It is claimed that deer and moose are more 
plentiful than for years, and that while the 
wolves are more plentiful than for many years 
also, the lack of snow on the ground gives the 
antlered game plenty of opportunity to get away 
from the beasts that menace them. 
