November, 1917 
FOREST AND STREAM 
521 
angles, overhanging the water to such an 
extent as sometimes to be almost horizon¬ 
tal with it. Slightly to the left was a 
shallow spot in the lake marked by a 
growth of rushes, vividly green at the top, 
while the lower halves were of a most 
brilliant scarlet, affording the precise 
amount of warmth and bright coloring 
that the picture required. It is extraor¬ 
dinary how everything seems to turn to 
brilliant colors in the autumn in these 
northern latitudes. The evening was per¬ 
fectly still; the surface of the lake, un¬ 
broken by the smallest ripple, shone like a 
mirror and reflected the coast-line and 
trees so accurately, that it was impossible 
to tell where water ended and land began. 
The love of money and the love of sport 
are the passions that lead men into such 
scenes as these. The lumberman, the 
salmon-fisher, and the hunter in pursuit 
of large game, monopolize the beauties of 
nature in these Canadian wilds. The 
moose (Cervus Alces) and caribou (Cer- 
vus rangifer) are the principal large game 
to be found in Canada. The moose is by 
far the biggest of all existing deer. He 
attains a height of quite eighteen hands, 
and weighs about twelve hundred pounds 
or more. The moose of American is al¬ 
most, if not quite, identical with the elk 
of Europe, but it attains a greater size. 
The horns especially are much finer than 
those to be found on the elk in Russia, 
Prussia, or the Scandinavian countries. 
T HE moose has many advantages over 
other deer, but it suffers also from 
some terrible disadvantages, which 
make it an easy prey to its great and prin¬ 
cipal destroyer, man. Whereas among 
most, if not all, the members of the deer 
tribe, the female has but one fawn at a 
birth, the cow-moose generally drops two 
calves—which is much in favor of the race 
The moose is blessed with an intensely 
acute sense of smell, with an almost equally 
acute sense of hearing, and it is exceed¬ 
ingly wary and difficult of approach. On 
the other hand, it is but little fitted to 
move in deep snow, owing to its great 
weight. Unlike the caribou, which has 
hoofs specially adapted for deep snow, the 
moose’s feet are small, compared with the 
great bulk of the animal. If, therefore, it 
is once found and started when the snow 
lies deep upon the ground, its destruction 
is a matter of certainty; it breaks through 
the snow to solid earth at every step, be¬ 
comes speedily exhausted, and falls an 
easy prey to men and dogs. 
Again, a large tract of land is necessary 
to supply food for even one moose. In 
summer, it feeds a good deal upon the 
stems and roots of water-lilies, but its 
staple food consists of the tender shoots 
of the moose-wood, ground-maple, alder, 
birch, poplar, and other deciduous trees. 
It is fond of ground-hemlock, and will 
also occasionally browse upon the sapin, 
or Canada balsam fir, and even upon 
spruce, though that is very rare, and 
I have known them when hard pressed to 
gnaw bark off the trees. 
Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are 
nearly “settled up.” More and more land 
is cleared and brought under cultivation 
every day; more and more forest cut down 
year by year; and the moose-supporting 
portion of the country is becoming very 
limited in extent. On the other hand, the 
moose is an animal which could easily be 
preserved if only reasonable laws could be 
enforced. It adapts itself wonderfully to 
civilization. A young moose will become 
as tame as a domestic cow in a short time. 
Moose become accustomed to the ordi¬ 
nary noises of a settled country with such 
facility that they may sometimes be found 
feeding within a few hundred yards of a 
road. A railway does not appear to dis¬ 
turb them at all. I have shot moose within 
sound of the barking of dogs and the 
cackling of geese of a farm-house, in 
places where the animals must have been 
constantly hearing men shouting, dogs 
barking, and all the noises of a settlement. 
Their sense of hearing is developed in a 
wonderful degree, and they appear to be 
possessed of some marvelous power of 
discriminating between innocent sounds 
and noises which indicate danger. On a 
windy day, when the forest is full of 
noises—trees cracking, branches snapping, 
and twigs breaking,—the moose will take 
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