650 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



the peculiar flavor of which is highly esteemed by epicures. In the ibexes 

 the horns acquire an enormous development in proportion to the size of the 

 head, and the long hair and the ' goatee/ so characteristic of the goats, 

 is lacking. 



Last of the ungulates to be mentioned is the curious musk-ox of the 

 Arctic regions of America, but rarely, if ever, occurring south of the six- 

 tieth parallel of latitude, but ranging north to the land of perpetual ice. 

 It does not, however, occur now in Greenland, but it was once abundant 



LIFRA 





c 







f HtfiOT SI 



Fig. 511. — Musk-ox (Ovibos moschatus). 



there, as well as in Siberia and in northern Europe. In these northern 

 regions it is a most important animal to the Eskimo. From its hide, with 

 it- long hair, be manufactures his clothing, while his palate does not stick 

 at the Btrong musky flavor of the flesh of the males at the pairing season, 

 — a flavor which white men. unless starving, cannot stand. The cows, 

 however, have none of this taste, but are very palatable. The musk-oxen 

 go in large herds, feeding like the reindeer and caribou, upon sedges and 

 leaves in the summer, and on the moss and lichens in the winter. In size 

 the musk-ox is smaller than a domestic cow, it being a large specimen 

 which will weigh four hundred and fifty pounds. In spite of their clumsy 



