nue to be an inhabitant of the forest long
after most other members of the group have disappeared.

The moose of Maine and the Maritime Provinces occupy a relatively small
area, surrounded on all sides by settlements, which prevent the animals
from leaving the country when civilization encroaches. In this district
their habits have been greatly modified. They do not show the same fear
of the sound of rifle, of the smell of fire, or even of the scent of
human footsteps, as in the wilder portions of the country. In
consequence of this change of habit, it is difficult for a hunter, whose
experience is limited to Maine or the Maritime Provinces, to appreciate
how very shy and wary a moose can be.

In the upper Ottawa country, when they first began to be hunted by
sportsmen, the writer remembers landing from his canoe on the bank of a
small stream, and walking around a marsh a few acres in extent to look
at the moose tracks. Fresh signs, made that morning, were everywhere in
evidence, and it had apparently been a favorite resort all summer. Snow
fell that night and remained continuously on the ground for two weeks,
when the writer again passed by this swamp and found that during the
interval it had not been visited by a single moose. The moccasin tracks
had been scented, and the moose had left the neighborhood. A moose with
a nose as sensitive as this would find existence unendurable in New
Brunswick or Maine.

I have already referred to the relative size of the antlers of the moose
from different localities, and called attention to the inferiority of
the heads from the extreme east. Large heads have, however, come from
this section, and even now one hears of several heads being taken
annually in New Brunswick running to five feet and a little over in
spread. The test of the value of a moose head is the width of its
antlers between the extreme points. The antlers of a young individual
show but few points, but these are long and the webbing on the main
blade is narrow. The brow antlers usually show two points. As the moose
grows larger the palmation becomes wider, and the points more numerous
but shorter, until in a very old specimen the upper part of the antler
is merely scalloped along the edge, and the web is of great breadth. In
the older and finer specimens the brow antlers are more complex, and
show three points instead of two.

[Illustration: "BIERSTADT" HEAD. KILLED 1880, BOUNDARY OF NEW BRUNSWICK
AND MAINE EXTREM