98 EXPEDITION TO POINT BA1UIOW, ALASKA. 



work. Not only ha ve 1 lie \v;i!ruses been killed off by the indiscriminate slaughter wbich lias been 

 the custom, but they have grown cautious, and have learned to withdraw to inaccessible parts of 

 the ice fields, \vlu re they eauuot be reached with a boat. This habit will go a good way towards 

 preserving the species from utter extinction. 



There seems to lie some diversity of opinion as to the ferocity of the Pacific Walrus. Capf. E. 

 P. Herendeen, \\lio has killed a great many walruses, especially when 'Miauled out" on the. land, 

 insists that he never saw one show fight, that they are only anxious to escape from their pursuers, 

 and that the chase is attended, with no danger, except sometimes from the blundering efforts of 

 the animals to escape. 



(.'apt. L. C. Owen, on the other hand, one of the veterans of the whaling fleet, who commanded 

 the first steam whaler in the Arctic, .and who has probably had as much experience as any one in 

 shooting walruses on the ice, asserts that he has frequently been attacked by wounded walruses, 

 and that his "dinghy" or walrus-boat has often been in great danger from their "pecking 1 ' at it, 

 as he expressed it, with their tusks. 



13. OVIBOS MOSCHATUS (Gmel.) Blaiuv. 

 MUSK Ox (U'min man). 



A skull of this animal was brought in by one of the trading parties from the eastward, just an 

 we were getting ready to abandon the station. In the hurry and excitement of the time, we neg- 

 lected to find out more accurately the locality from which it came. The party had been as far 

 cast as the mouth of the (Jolville, and the skull may have been brought from there. 



The natives knew the animal well, and called it by nearly the same name as the eastern. 

 Eskimos, but none had ever seen it alive. 



The skull obtained appeared very old and much weathered. 



14. OVIS MONTANA (?) Cuv. 



MOUNTAIN SHEEP; BIGHORN (I'mnea). 



The Eskimos had many implements, especially water dippers, made of Mountain Sheep horn, 

 and there were a good many garments made of the skin which is especially used for trimming deer- 

 skin clothes. 



Most of the horns and the skins were obtained by trade from the natives to the east and 

 south. The Point Barrow natives were, however, well acquainted with the animal, and several 

 of them said that they had killed them, a great way off to the eastward, in very high broken land 

 (Romanzoff Mountains?). 



I have called the species Otis montana (?), because there is a question as to the species of 

 Mountain Sheep inhabiting Alaska, and we obtained no specimen that could be identified. 



15. RANGIPER TARANDUS GRCENLANDICUS (Kerr). 



KEINDEEU (Tti'ktn). 



PU'HHIIH, IH'CK WITH l.AliGi: ANTLERS: AVA-n. YKAiti.i.NC i:ui'K; Ku'lau&n. DOE: Ainiiii, o;,l>. TIOUM i:> DOBj \<>'.rn, 



TAWN. 



Keiudeer do not come down to the coast near Point Barrow in any largo numbers. Straggling 

 individuals and small parties arc occasionally to be seen during the summer, wandering around the 

 tundra and sometimes come down to the beach and the lagoons, especially on calm, sunny days 

 when the flies are troublesome. 



Large herds have been seen down the coast, 25 or 30 miles from the station, and near the 

 mouths of the rivers at the east, but only stragglers reach the. Point. 



During the rutting season, in the latter part of October, a good many are to be st-en roaming 

 round a few jr.ilrs inland, though they are very wild. The rutting bucks, however, are rather 

 inclined to be curious and to come towards a man if he keeps perfectly still. Later in the winter, 



