514 THE MUSK-OX. 



unfrequently occurs that they are induced by hunger to gnaw 

 off each other's wool, which, forming balls in their stomachs, 

 soon kills them. Polar bears are often floated to the coasts 

 on detached masses of ice, and commit great slaughter among 

 the flock, which is also subject to the attacks of foxes. It is 

 said, however, that the sheep when left to themselves, show 

 considerable intelligence and some courage in defending their 

 young, even against whole packs of foxes, who seldom succeed 

 in making a prize except by stratagem. The several specimens 

 of these sheep in the Regent's Park Zoological Gardens are 

 large, robust animals, with a coarse fleece, consisting of long 

 hair externally, and an underlay er of close wool. 



THE MusK-Ox. (Ovibos moschatus blaina.) 



The range of the musk-ox comprises the land at the north- 

 eastern end of the Great Bear Lake, and the islands which lie 

 to the north of the American continent as far as Melville Island ; 

 and it is said that it inhabits the extensive barren tract which 

 exists to the westward of the Rocky Mountains, which skirt 

 the Mackenzie. Musk-oxen appear to be migratory animals, 



