46 



MAMMALS OF AMERICA 



The Canadian Barren Grounds, a stretch of 

 country extending westward from Hudson's Bay 

 to the Mackenzie river, are among the most deso- 

 late regions on the face of the earth. Even in 

 the continuous sunshine of the short summer, ice 

 is to be found in the lakes till the month of July ; 

 and it frequently happens that the young of the 

 water-fowl are frozen into the early autumn ice 

 before they are strong enough to fly, and ripe 

 berries are covered by the snow before they can 

 fall. In this inhospitable territory, year in, year 

 out, dwells the Musk-Ox, neither true Ox nor 

 true Sheep, yet partaking of the characteristics 

 of both. In prehistoric times, the range of this 

 animal was a very extensive one. Professor 

 Henry F. Osborn records the finding of fossil- 

 ized bones of the true Musk-Ox or of extinct 

 species in Eschscholtz Bay, Alaska, and as far 

 south as Kentucky ; while in the Old World the 

 animal roamed over northern Asia, and in 

 Europe remains have been found as far south as 

 France and Germany. 



The Musk-Ox is an odd-looking animal, and 

 has been not inappropriately described as re- 

 sembling a huge hairy ram, its remarkable horns 

 contributing largely to this similarity ; but its 

 stout and short legs give it the appearance also 

 of a small Ox. It stands about four and one- 

 half feet high, and has a length of about six 

 and one-half feet. The head is massive, espe- 

 cially in the older males. The pupils of the eyes 

 are bluish-purjile and elongated, and the iris 

 brown ; and the ears are so short that, like the 

 tail, they are concealed by the animal's long 

 hair. The hoofs are peculiar, the inner half of 

 each, being pointed while the outer half is 

 rounded. Its hairy coat is warmer than that of 

 any other mammal, and consists of an outer 

 covering of coarse hair, which curls and is 

 matted on the back, but elsewhere is more than 

 a foot long, and conceals the upper half of the 

 legs. Next the skin is a growth of fine wool, 

 so dense as to be impervious to moisture. But 

 the most noteworthy peculiarity of the Musk-Ox 

 is its horns, which grow at first in a horizontal 

 direction. The downward bend does not appear 

 till the second year, and the horns are not fully 

 grown till the sixth or eighth year. The horns 

 of the bull grow into an almost solid boss on the 

 top of the head. 



The food of the Common Musk-Ox consists 

 for most of the year of mosses, to obtain which 



it scrapes away the snow with its hoofs. The 

 Greenland species has been seen to use its horns 

 also for this purpose. In summer, according to 

 Mr. W'arburton Pike, it " feeds exclusively on 

 willow leaves, which appear to give a great 

 amount of nourishment." The fat accumulated 

 by the animal in the summer serves also to 

 nourish it during the long winter. 



Mating begins in September, and the calves, 

 usually one at a birth, are born in May or early 

 in June. From what Mr. Pike could gather 

 from the Indians, the cows calve only every 

 second year. The big bulls are seen wandering 

 singly in the summer, while the young bulls and 

 the cows keep together in small bands. "Towards 

 autumn the bands increase in size, and it is not 

 uncommon to see forty or fifty animals together 

 at this season of the year." 



The specific name of the Musk-Ox is derived 

 from its strong odor. The similarity of this 

 odor to musk has, however, been denied by some 

 hunters : and all who have fed on the animal say 

 that if the carcass is promptly and properly evis- 

 cerated there is no taint to the flesh, which is 

 juicy, tender, and excellent eating. 



Although the Eskimo hunt the Musk-Ox for 

 its pelage, which they use for bedding as well as 

 an article of barter, the fact that the skins are in 

 their prime in winter, when the difficulties of 

 the chase are greatest, operates to prevent any 

 large reduction in the numbers of the animal ; 

 for " failure to find the game must inevitably 

 end in starvation and a desperate retreat with 

 uncertain results." In summer the animals are 

 killed by the Barren Ground Indians for the meat 

 and for the skins which can be used for tanning : 

 otherwise, at this season of the year the latter 

 have no commercial value. 



The Musk-Ox is gregarious, and is usually 

 seen in herds numbering from a dozen or so to 

 eighty or a hundred individuals. It has been 

 thought that the animal was migratory; but Mr. 

 Henry Biederbick, of the Greely Arctic Expedi- 

 tion, is of the opinion that the supposition is an 

 erroneous one, at any rate so far as the Green- 

 land species is concerned. 



Though the skin of the Musk-Ox has been 

 known since 1670, when the Hudson's Bay Fur 

 Company was founded, it was not vmtil 1899 

 that a live animal was brought into civilized 

 countries. In that year two calves which had 

 been captured on Clavering Island, oflF the east 

 coast of Greenland, were bought by the Duke of 



