92 CONSERVATION OF CANADIAN WILD LIFE 



lows that the wmds lay bare. According to MacFarlane, 

 during the severest cold it will, sometimes, enter the northern 

 fringe of the forest region to a depth of forty or fifty miles. 

 With the advent of spring the thick winter coat is shed and 

 the animals wander farther north. Mr. Stefansson believes 

 they migrate about five miles per month. He states that 

 they seem to be unwilling to cross narrow strips of water, 

 and therefore do not migrate from one Arctic island to 

 another, as in the case of the caribou. They are gregarious 

 in habit and usually live in bands of six to twenty indi- 

 viduals, but herds containing as many as one hundred 

 animals have been recorded. In these bands there are 

 usually but few males; Mr. Stefansson counted 114 ani- 

 mals in a single herd on Melville Island. In spite of their 

 heavy and ungainly appearance and the shortness of their 

 legs, they run with considerable speed. When alarmed 

 they show their sheep-like habits. The herd collects to- 

 gether, forming a circle around the calves, the larger animals 

 facing with their formidable-looking horns the source of 

 danger. In this manner they are usually able to withstand 

 the attacks of wolves, but the Eskimos take advantage of 

 this habit and surround the herd, from which, as a rule, 

 not a member escapes, the whole herd being killed (Plate 

 VI). This reckless slaughter, sometimes imitated by white 

 men, has been the cause of the reduction of the musk-ox 

 to the alarmingly small numbers in which they exist to-day. 

 When they are able to escape they take to the hills, where 

 they are able to ascend precipitous slopes and to traverse 

 rocks and crags with astonishing agility, led usually by 

 an old bull. The female produces one, rarely two, young 

 at the end of May or the beginning of June. Ekblaw (see 

 p. 97) records the birth of a musk-ox calf on or about 

 April 28, near Canon Fjord, EUesmere Island. The flesh 

 of a fat musk-ox is said to be excellent, resembling caribou 

 somewhat, but coarser in grain. The bulls may attain a 



