334 ECONOMIC MAMMALOGY 



dry, but without any bad flavor," and over half of the contents of the 

 stomach was green stems of Ephedra trifurcata, with stems, leaves 

 and flowers of Tecoma stans, stems, leaves and berries of Garry a 

 wrighti, Pentstemon and Opuntia, but not a trace of grass. 50 Mountain 

 goat (Oreamnos) : found feeding on huckleberry, Oregon grape, rat- 

 tlesnake plantain, evergreen violet, alder buds, willow twigs, sedge, 

 etc. 51 



The musk ox (Ovibos), of Arctic America, is one of the most 

 interesting mammals in North America. It will be a disgrace to civiliza- 

 tion if hunters succeed in exterminating it, which they seem likely to 

 do. It possesses a fine undercoat of wool, which might prove of commer- 

 cial value if it could economically be freed of its "rain coat" of long 

 hair, and perhaps it could be bred in large numbers in the Arctic re- 

 gion, as indicated by Stefansson. 52 It has been hunted for its skin 

 more industriously than is generally supposed. The natives have at 

 times been encouraged by the fur traders to "bring in all the musk ox 

 robes that it was possible to obtain," which has destroyed all of them 

 over most of the former range and much reduced their numbers else- 

 where. The Hudson Bay Company handled not over 200 skins an- 

 nually from 1864 to 1878, 600 in 1881, 1400 in 1890, 2000 in 1892, 

 after which the number steadily declined as the animals became 

 scarcer. 53 It was estimated in 1925 that not more than 250 musk oxen 

 then survived. 54 "Those who know the Arctic best are predicting the 

 doom of the musk ox." 55 Out of this dark picture has now come a 

 gleam of light. It is announced that the Thelon Game Sanctuary, a 

 I5,ooo-mile preserve east of Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territory, 

 "which contains the last known herd of musk ox on the Canadian 

 mainland," about 250 animals, has been closed to both whites and In- 

 dians. 66 



50 Bailey, N. Amer. Fauna, No. 25, pp. 70-75, 1905. 



51 Taylor and Shaw, Mammals and Birds of Mount Ranier National Park, p. 125, 

 1927. 



52 Nature, cxn, 804, 1923. 



53 Hewitt, The conservation of the wild life of Canada, pp. 90-101, 310-318, 1921. 



54 Massingham, Discovery, London, 1928, quoted in Literary Digest, August 25, 

 1928, p. 23. 



65 Anthony, Field book of North American mammals, p. 542, 1928. 



56 California Fish and Game, xvi, 179, 1930. Conserving Canada's musk oxen, 

 being an account of an investigation of Thelon Game Sanctuary, 1928-1929, with 

 a brief history of the area and an outline of known facts regarding the musk ox, 

 Northwest Territory and Yukon Branches, Department of the Interior, Canada. 



