316 CONSERVATION OF CANADIAN WILD LIFE 
Mr. Stefansson, since his return, has laid his proposals 
personally before the Canadian and United States Govern- 
ments. In Canada, his proposals are now being considered 
by a commission appointed for that purpose. It is evident 
that if it can be experimentally demonstrated that the musk- 
ox is capable of being domesticated or semi-domesticated, it 
would furnish a factor of inestimable economic importance 
in the agricultural development of large tracts of our north- 
ern regions which are at present producing only furs. 
The Zoological Society of New York has demonstrated 
that the musk-ox can be kept in captivity even in a climate, 
such as that of New York, totally different from the climate 
to which these animals are accustomed in their native re- 
gions of the north (Plate IV). Doctor Hornaday has kindly 
furnished me with particulars of the animals that have been 
obtained and kept by the Zoological Society of New York. 
The first specimen was received in 1902, but lived only a 
few months. A second specimen, which was received in the 
same year, died an accidental death a month after its ar- 
rival. The third specimen, which was captured as a calf 
in the summer of 1909 on Melville Island, by Captain 
Joseph E. Bernier, reached New York in November, 1909. 
It fed well and kept in perfect health for five and one-half 
years, but died in May, 1915. Doctor Hornaday states 
that ‘‘she was so vicious that it was impossible to risk any of 
the male specimens of the musk-ox herd [the Rainey musk- 
ox herd mentioned below] in the corral with her. Her fierce 
disposition robbed the Zoological Park of what would other- 
wise have been a good opportunity to breed this species in 
captivity.”” The food of this animal consisted of red-clover 
hay and crushed oats. In the late spring of 1910 Mr. Paul 
J. Rainey captured, on Ellesmere Island, six musk-ox calves, 
all of which were brought alive to the New York Zoological 
Park, where they arrived in September, 1910. One died of 
wounds received during capture, and malnutrition, in Oc- 
