198 THE OX FAMILY 



pretty hard and requires much cooking. When the 

 animal is in prime condition and rolling in fat the meat 

 is as tender as English beef. But he is not often found 

 in this condition."'^ The difference of opinion is no 

 doubt due to the season of the year when the animals 

 are taken and the state of the Arctic appetite. The 

 eider ducks, which we do not regard as edible, have 

 been pronounced "excellent " by a sportsman in the 

 Arctics.f 



Neither the head nor the robe make a very good 

 trophy; they would not be considered desirable 

 were it not for their being uncommon, the musk- 

 ox being the " most inaccessible animal in the whole 

 wide world." Both sexes have horns. The horns 

 are heavy at the base and curve downward, being 

 recurved toward the ends. The hair is very long 

 and coarse, hanging down nearly to the ground in 

 some specimens. The color is dark brown. The 

 height at the shoulder is a little over four feet. A full- 

 grown animal will weigh as much as 350 pounds. The 

 average weight will probably not exceed 300 pounds. :{: 



Musk-oxen or sheep are never seen in large herds. 

 Sometimes only a very few animals are seen together. 

 Herds have been observed which contained forty 

 and perhaps more animals. Whitney says the average 

 herd will contain from ten to twenty animals, there 

 being one or two bulls to each herd. The range of the 

 musk-ox is believed to have been formerly circumpolar, 

 but the animals are found to-day only in Arctic North 



* Sport and Travel in the Northland of Canada, Lcyidon, 1904. 



f Our Feathered Game, p. 202 



X The heaviest weighed by Greely was 432 pounds. 



