29 THE MUSK OX. 
the head and snout, are unfailing characteristics whereby it can be discriminated from any 
other animal. The horns of the Musk Ox are extremely large at their base, and form a kind 
of helmet upon the summit of the forehead. They then sweep boldly downwards, and are 
again hooked upwards towards the tips. This curious form of the horns is only noticed in the 
male, as the horns of the female are set very widely apart on the sides of the forehead, and 
are simply curved. The muzzle is covered with hair, with the exception of a very slight line 
round the nostrils. 
This animal is an inhabitant of the extreme north of America, being seldom seen south of 
the sixty-first degree of latitude, and ascending as high as the seventy-fifth. It lives, in fact, in 
the same country which is inhabited by the Esquimaux, and is known to them under the name 
of Oomingnoak. It is a fleet and active animal, and traverses with such ease the rocky and 
MUSK OX.—Ovibos moschatus. 
precipitous ground on which it loves to dwell, that it cannot be overtaken by any pursuer less 
swift than an arrow ora bullet. It is rather an irritable animal, and becomes a dangerous foe 
to the hunters, by its habit of charging upon them while they are perplexed amid the cliffs 
and crevices of its rocky home, thus often escaping unharmed by the aid of its quick eye and 
agile limbs. The hunters say that it is rather a stupid animal in some matters, and that it 
will not run away at the report of a gun, provided that it does not see the man who fired it, 
or perceive the smell of the powder. They believe that the Musk Ox takes the flash and the 
report to be only a species of thunder and lightning, and therefore does not think itself obliged 
to escape. The flesh of this animal is very strongly perfumed with a musky odor, very varia- 
ble in its amount and strength. Excepting, however, a few weeks in the year, it is perfectly 
fit for food, and is fat and well flavored. 
The Musk Ox is a little animal, but owing to the huge mass of woolly hair with which it 
is thickly covered, appears to be of considerable dimensions. The color of this animal is a 
yellowish-brown, deepening upon the sides. 
Ovibos is a genus of sub-family Caprine, the latter embracing the Sheep, Goats and 
Musk Sheep. 
