comparatively abundant in Scandinavia, especially in
Norway, where they are preserved with great care. They still survive in
considerable numbers in Russia and Siberia as far east as Amurland.

Without going into a detailed description of the anatomical differences
between the European elk and the American moose, it may be said that the
old world animal is much smaller in size and lighter in color. The
antlers are less elaborate and smaller in the European animal, and
correspond to the stage of development reached by the average
three-year-old bull of eastern Canada. There is a marked separation of
the main antler and the brow antlers. That this deterioration of both
body and antlers is due partly to long continued elimination of the best
bulls, and partly to inbreeding, is probable. We know that the decline
of the European red deer is due to these causes, and that a similar
process of deterioration is showing among the moose in certain outlying
districts in eastern North America.

The type species of this group, known as _Alces machlis_, was long
considered by European naturalists uniform throughout its circumpolar
distribution, in the north of both hemispheres. The American view that
practically all animals in this country represent species distinct from
their European congeners is now generally accepted, and the name
_Alces americanus_ has been given to the American form. It would
appear, however, that the generic name _Alces_ must soon be
replaced by the earlier form _Paralces_.

[Illustration: YEARLING MOOSE.]

The comparatively slight divergence of the two types at the extreme east
and west limits of their range, namely, Norway and eastern Canada, would
indicate that the period of separation of the various members of the
genus is not, geologically speaking, of great antiquity.

The name _moose_ is an Algonquin word, meaning a wood eater or
browser, and is most appropriate, since the animal is pre-eminently a
creature of the thick woods. The old world term elk was applied by the
English settlers, probably in Virginia, to the wapiti deer, an animal
very closely related to the red deer of Europe. In Canada the moose is
sometimes spoken of as the elk, and even in the Rocky Mountain region
one hears occasionally of the "flat-horned elk." We are fortunate in
possessing a native name for this animal, and to call it other than
moose can only create confusion.

The range of the moose in North America extends from No