MOOSE INSPIRE ADMIRATION 127

be when the “rutting” season has been in full swing
for a couple of weeks.

Nobody who has ever watched a bull moose when he
is fat, his body round and sleek and his hair shining and
glossy, would ever call one ungainly. Ponderous they
may be, but they are not slow-moving animals, even when
they are just taking a leisurely stroll. Perhaps if you watch
one feeding on willows on an August evening, sauntering
along, stopping here and there to browse on some bush
that takes his fancy, you may at first imagine he is slow
and cumbersome. But look at him carefully when he
takes a notion to cross a swamp or open piece of ground,
and then note the ease and length of his stride. He will
be moving much faster than you give him credit for.
Better still, wait until the ‘‘ rutting”? season commences,
about the middle of September, and the bulls begin to
scour the country in quest of cows. If he was a fine
beast before, he is a majestic one now. It is an inspiring
sight to watch a big old bull, with massive, wide-spreading
horns, covering the ground with his long, swinging stride ;
through the timber he goes without a pause to pick his
way, just turning his head from side to side to allow
his horns to clear the trees; over windfalls he steps
without noticing them; crossing swamps and soft ground,
where a man hardly dare venture and which the best of
pack-horses would not even attempt, without the slightest
effort or slackening of speed. Then try to catch him up
or head him off, and see how badly you are left behind,
even if you run, unless he takes pity on you and stops
to listen for the call of a cow or the challenge of a rival.
But if his walk excited your admiration, it is when he
trots in real earnest that you properly appreciate what
he can do in the way of covering the ground. Then
neither brush, logs, trees, rocks, nor anything else seems
to lessen that marvellous pace. It is only when a moose
tries to gallop that he is ungainly ; the result is an abject
' failure, and their best efforts at this form of locomotion
are hardly worthy of such a name, as their motions are
more in the nature of a series of flounders and by no