Racial characters.—Small size, dark color.
Distribution.—Summit of Cascades westward, including islands in Puget Sound and San Juan Islands; exact limits of range uncertain.
Alce americana shirasi [Nelson]
Moose
Alces americanus shirasi [Nelson], Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 27:72, April 25, 1914.
Type.—Obtained near the Snake River, Lincoln County, Wyoming, by J. Shire on December 11, 1913; type in United States National Museum.
Distribution.—Casual wanderer into northeastern Washington from Canada.
Remarks.—The moose is the largest North American deer. Its large size and huge, palmate antlers serve to separate it from any other member of the deer tribe.
Moose range from northern United States to central Canada and Alaska. The European elk and the American moose are subspecies of the same species. The moose is of only casual occurrence in Washington. The latest authentic record for Washington is a bull that wandered southward and westward from Canada until it was killed on an Indian reservation in Ferry County. Other moose are reported to have wandered into northeastern Washington from Canada in past years.
[Dice] (1919) was told that moose once occurred in the Blue Mountains of southeastern Washington but there is no confirmation of this report.