PECULIARITIES OF THE MUSK-OX 17 



I gaze upon each living Musk-Ox to be seen in captivity 

 with a feeling of wonder, as if it were a creature from another 

 world. There are times, also, when I wonder whether many 

 of the visitors who see them quietly munching their clover 

 hay appreciate the effort that has been put forth to capture 

 them in the remote and desolate regions of the far North, 

 keep them alive and bring them to civilization for public 

 exhibition. 



The Musk-Ox is one of the strangest of all our large 

 animals, and its appearance is so odd and striking that when 

 once seen by an observant person it is not easily forgotten. 

 In it one sees an oblong mass of very long and wavy brown 

 hair, 43^ feet high by 6 1 2 feet long, supported upon very 

 short and post-like legs that are half hidden by the sweeping 

 pelage of the body. The three-inch tail is so very small and 

 short it is quite invisible. There is a blunt and hairy muzzle, 

 round and shining eyes, but the ears are almost invisible. 



The whole top of the head is covered by a pair of horns 

 enormously flattened at the base and meeting each other in 

 the centre line of the forehead. From the meeting point 

 they sweep downward over the edge of the cranium, close to 

 the cheeks, but finally recurve upward before coming to a 

 point, like the waxed mustache of a boulevardier. 



The iris of the Musk-Ox is of a chocolate-brown color, 

 the pupils are elongated and bluish purple. The lips and tip 

 of the tongue are also bluish purple. 



The onler hair is a fool or more in Length, and often touches 

 the snow when the animal walks. In the middle of the back 

 is a broad "saddle-mark," of shorter, dull-gray hair. Next 



