NATURAL HISTORY.— MAMMALS 



233 



ing, according to Parry, about 700 pounds; the head and hide 

 130 pounds. 1 



The pelage in winter is much darker than it is in late spring — 

 the season during which they are hunted for their skins. They 

 are nearly black on the head, neck, and sides. The back is of a 

 dark seal brown except an oval patch, a toot in length, over the 

 lumbar region. This "white spot" is the only part of the body 

 where the under wool is not hidden by the longer hair. It is 

 of a dark chestnut underneath but bleached to cream buff on 

 the surface. The long hair of the flanks is black with a lighter 

 brown intermingled. The legs, below the "knees," are pro- 

 tected by short hair only, pale grayish in color. The long hair 

 of the hump is curled and about 8 inches in length. The coarse 

 outer hair on the other parts is straight, attaining a length of 

 20 inches on the throat and over 30 on the flanks. 



The Barren Ground, which they inhabit, is a vast area of 

 rugged hills; most of them are boulder-strewn, with mosses, 

 lichens, and occasional plots of short grass on slopes that have 

 not been denuded of soil; in places, high, rolling hills of gravel 

 occur. We invariably found the musk-ox among the boulders 

 at the summits of the highest hills. These rocks afforded but 

 partial concealment, however, as the color of the musk-ox is 

 too dark to assimilate readily with its surroundings at an)- sea- 

 son. They probably frequented the hill tops because the high 

 winds, which prevail in that region, sweep away the snow, ena- 

 bling the animals to graze with little digging. 



There are usually twenty or thirty in a band, but they some- 

 times assemble in herds containing over a hundred. Hearne 

 states that, "there are only two or three males in each band 

 which is under the leadership of an old bull." In one band of 

 eleven which we killed there were eight males; in another, in 

 which twenty-five were killed, there were only two females, and 

 from this herd I shot four bulls which broke away from the dogs 

 together; all were of the largest size and evidently quite old. 



The musk-ox presents an imposing appearance with his huge, 

 shaggy head and formidable horns. The thick coat exagger- 

 ates his size; the erect mane gives the appearance of a large 

 hump which in reality only rises 2^ inches above the line of 

 the back. 



1 Supplement to App. to First Voyage, p. 190. 



