2i8 'ANIMAL LIFE IN THE ARCTIC REGION 



side horny shell or false hoofs well developed, while the fissure 

 between the median toes is so much extended upward and the liga- 

 ments which bind them together are so loose that their hoofs spread 

 out considerably when pressed upon the ground and thus the sur- 

 face for support upon the yielding snow, their most frequent foot- 

 hold, is much increased. When the legs are raised in rapid action, 

 these hoofs make a sharp snap at the moment they come together. 



The reindeer, from the nature of the country it inhabits, is 

 compelled to lead a migratory life, in which the natives of Lapland, 

 who have to depend entirely for subsistence on the animal, have 

 to participate. Troops of them during the winter months reside 

 in the woods, feeding upon the lichens that hang from the boughs 

 of the trees, as well as on those that grow on the ground beneath. 

 In the spring they go to the mountains in order to escape the 

 swarms of stinging gnats and gad-flies which attack them in the 

 lowlands. It is interesting to state that Commander Peary, a few 

 years ago, found a variety of this interesting animal in Grant 

 Land the northern part of Ellesmere Land snow-white in color, 

 and occurring in fairly large numbers. 



A singular animal of the desolate northern region is the 

 musk-ox. It is now confined to the Arctic regions of North Amer- 

 ica, though it was once circum-polar in its range, and in Pleistocene 

 times existed over all Europe and in America as far south as Ken- 

 tucky. 



In size it resembles a small domestic ox. The body is covered 

 with long brownish hair with a warm undercoat of wool, very thick 

 and tufted on the neck and shoulders and elsewhere long and flow- 

 ing, so that it hangs down almost to the feet. The legs are short 

 and strong and the hoofs of unequal size and shape, the outer being 

 much broader than the inner one. The horns are broad at the base, 

 covering the forehead and crown, much as do those of the cape 

 buffalo, then curving downward between the eye and the ear, and 

 then bending upward and backward. The chief peculiarity of these 

 animals is, however, the faint odor of musk which belongs to them. 



