3 o8 HOOFED ANIMALS 



the other hand, its thin covering of hair, the triangulation of 

 the horns, which in the males attain a length of two feet, 

 its barrel-like body, and its fondness for wallowing outweigh 

 its antelope qualities. 



MUSK OX (Ovibos moschatus). 

 Plate XXX. Fig. i. 



There is a difficulty in assigning this rather extraordinary 

 animal to its exact place among the Hollow-horned 

 Ruminants. As indicated in its generic name, Ovibos, it 

 appears rather to form a link between the Ox and the Sheep. 

 The Musk Ox has a coat of fine brown wool underneath its 

 outer covering of very long hair, which reaches nearly to 

 the ground. It is this latter which causes the animal to look 

 much larger than it really is, for a hunter is quite satisfied to 

 capture an animal weighing between three and four hundred 

 pounds. But the distinguishing feature of the male is the 

 appearance given to its head by the massive horns, the bases 

 of which are spread out in almost exactly similar fashion to 

 those of the Cape Buffalo. In the Musk Ox the horns take 

 a downward direction, and when they do curve to form 

 sharply pointed hooks, their tips end in about a line with 

 the eyes. 



Fossil remains prove that ages ago the Musk Ox inhabited 

 Britain, a great part of Europe, and Northern Asia. Why it 

 has disappeared completely from the Eastern Hemisphere 

 no man can tell, but it is certainly now restricted to North 

 America, practically the region lying between Hudson Bay 

 and the mouth of the river Mackenzie. 



Musk Oxen are gregarious, travelling in bands across the 

 barren and inhospitable lands, where their food, especially 

 in winter, is chiefly limited to lichens and mosses. A herd 

 will unite to beat off their great enemy, the Arctic wolf ; and 

 the Eskimos assert that even bears frequently fall victims to 

 their sharp and powerful horns. Hunters, however, find the 

 Musk Ox by no means difficult to approach against the 

 wind. If attacked from several points at once they form a 

 circle, their glaring, blood-shot eyes bent upon the baying 



