has been detected by the great nostrils of the moose, which are large enough for a man's arm to be inserted, the answer comes in a low grunt, quickly repeated. The waiting huntsman is warned of the bull's approach by the rattle of boughs and the hurtle of the branching horns carried side-wise through the trees. The "caller" leaves his perch, and with perfidy Indian-taught, places the horn near the ground to muffle faulty vibrations in the feigned appeal. The King of the Woods appears in the open. A murderous detonation is his greeting. If the gunner's aim is true the great body crashes to the moor, victim of an unforgivable deception.
The height of the North American moose at maturity averages about 5½ feet from ground to withers; its weight about 800 pounds. The hair of the male is black at the points, that of the female brown. The antlers of the bull (the cows have none, and it is forbidden in New Brunswick to shoot the cow) attain an average spread of 40 to 52 inches. A 60-inch spread is unusual. The mother gives birth to two calves each spring except in her second one. A book on the Present State of Nova Scotia, published in 1787, says of the moose, "Their amazing numbers we may in some degree estimate from those killed last winter: in one settlement alone they amounted to at least four thousand." In those days they were hunted for their hide and meat rather than for the trophy
