MUSK SHEEP AS FOOD. 45 



of mine was always well supplied with them for food. 

 Their flesh is excellent and nutritious when fat, but 

 quite the reverse when, by a long protracted winter, 

 they become thin and attenuated. The flavour is 

 much the same as* that of venison, although 

 much coarser in the grain, and is entirely free from 

 any musky odour, except in very old males during 

 the rutting season. The ground which they principally 

 frequent is the same on which is found the small 

 cariboo two species of this genus being accre- 

 dited to the North American continent immense 

 stretches of rolling, rocky steppes, most sparsely sup- 

 plied with vegetation, except where an occasional brook 

 winds its solitary course towards some giant river, 

 rapidly hurrying on its northern course to the Arctic 

 Ocean. Their principal food is the various mosses, 

 the leaves of stunted brush, and the fine velvety grasses 

 that sparsely crop up in wet localities. 



For animals so unwieldy in shape and appearance 

 Musk Sheep are wonderfully nimble, making always for 

 the roughest grounds when pursued, leaping with agility 

 from rock to rock, and scaling the faces of slopes so 

 perpendicular, that the hunter, with hands and feet 

 brought into play, finds it almost impossible to follow. 

 Their hearing and sight are very acute ; at the same 

 time so suspicious and cautious are they that, although 

 always assembled in little parties of from ten to twenty, 

 sentinels are regularly told off for duty, which place 

 themselves in the most commanding positions, ready 

 to whistle the signal of alarm on the slightest suspicion 

 of danger, accompanied by the usual sheep-like stamp 

 of displeasure, which summons the herd to assist in 

 inspecting the supposed intruder before they shift their 



