(>88 Ph'()('Ki:i)I.\aS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxviii. 



Mr. Preble from Dr. Alexander Milne, factor, Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany, Winnip(\u'. 



The northern range of the musk ox is truly polar. Nearly ever}' 

 wintering arctic expedition has met with them singly or in small (never 

 in large) herds. Former traces have also ])een observed at many 

 northern points, while on one occasion a traveling party on Melville 

 Land (Island) saw a pure white individual among a comparatively 

 large herd — proljabl}- the only instance of the kind on record. Be- 

 tween Septend^er 3, 1852, and Septend)er 1>, 1858, the hunters of Her 

 Majesty's arctic ship Remlute shot 114 musk oxen on Melville Island, 

 a clear proof of itself that they are fairly abundant in that locality. 

 Doctor Armstrong, of the Innstlgator., says that in Prince of Wales 

 Strait hve, and dui'ing his stay in Mercy Bay, Banks Land, two full- 

 grown animals were killed. Several were also shot by himself and 

 Lieutenant Pim on Melville Island. In 1S75-7G Sir George Nares, of 

 Her Majesty's exploring ship A/crt, who wintered in latitude 8^2'-' '27' 

 north, longitude 61'-" 22' west, secured ([uite a number of animals. 

 The first herd seen consisted of a veteran and two young bulls and 

 four old and two young cows. They were all surrounded and, with 

 the exception of the tirst-mentioned, which required several bullets to 

 finish him, were easily killed. Nares refers to the fact that in 1872 

 the crew of the American expedition ship Polarlii shot twenty -six 

 animals on the opposite side of Kennedv Channel during the twelve 

 months passed l)y them in that latitude. 



Markham i-emarks that " musk oxen ascend hills and climb over 

 rocks and rough surfaces with great ease." He further adds that 

 •"they are ver}' irascible when wounded, and will sometimes attack a 

 hunter and seriously endanger his life." Doctor Armstrong has also 

 recoi'ded an interesting experience in Prince of Wales Strait in which 

 the dam and sire of a small herd brought to bay bravely stood in 

 front protecting the others in the rear, an action which surely 

 afi'orded strong proof of their atiectionate instinct. On this occasion 

 three males, the mother, and a young female calf were all shot. Sir 

 Leopold McClintock, who had been engaged in several Franklin search 

 expeditions, writes: 



The white cow (tlie albino observed on Melville Island) was accompanied by a 

 black calf. The inusk ox clambers np the steepest rocks like a goat, and, when run- 

 ning, his long black hair heaves up and down, streaming in the breeze, and gives 

 him a peculiarly savage appearance. It is so long that he occasionally treads thereon, 

 and one finds hairs almost 2 feet in length stamped into the snow. There is an 

 undergrowth of very thick wool so soft and silky that the warmest gloves have been 

 made of it. The musk ox is not al)solutely deficient of a tail, but it never exceeds 

 1^ inches in length. They do not seem to cross from one island to another, as the 

 reindeer do, but usually roam about in small herds. Unaccustomed to man, they 

 seldom deigned to notice us until we came tolerably near; then they would gen- 



