elk that had made the track,
and to this conclusion all at length came.

The great moose-deer, however, was an interesting theme, and we rode
along conversing upon it.

The moose (_Cervus alces_) is the largest of the deer kind. The male is
ordinarily as large as a mule; specimens have been killed of still
greater dimensions. One that has been measured stood seventeen bands,
and weighed 1200 pounds; it was consequently larger than most horses.
The females are considerably smaller than the males.

The colour of the moose, like that of other animals of the deer kind,
varies with the season; it varies also with the sex. The male is
tawny-brown over the back, sides, head, and thighs; this changes to a
darker hue in winter, and in very old animals it is nearly black; hence
the name "black elk," which is given in some districts to the moose.
The under parts of the body are light-coloured, with a tinge of yellow
or soiled white.

The female is of a sandy-brown colour above, and beneath almost white.
The calves are sandy-brown, but never spotted, as are the fawns of the
common deer.

The moose is no other than the elk of Northern Europe; but the elk of
America (_Cervus Canadensis_), as already stated, is altogether a
different animal. These two species may be mistaken for each other, in
the season when their antlers are young, or in the velvet; then they are
not unlike to a superficial observer. But the animals are rarely
confounded--only the names. The American elk is not found indigenous in
the eastern hemisphere, although he is the ornament of many a lordly
park.

The identity of the moose with the European elk is a fact that leads to
curious considerations. A similar identity exists between the caribou
of Canada and the reindeer of Northern Europe--they are both the _Cervus
tarandus_ of Pliny. So also with the polar hear of both hemispheres,
the arctic, fox, and several other animals. Hence we infer, that there
existed at some period either a land connection, or some other means of
communication, between the northern parts of both continents.

Besides being the largest, the moose is certainly the most ungraceful of
the deer family. His head is long, out of all proportion; so, too, are
his legs; while his neck is short in an inverse ratio. His ears are
nearly a foot in length, asinine, broad, and slouching; his eyes are
small; and his muzzle square, with a deep _sulcus_ in the middle, which
gives it the a