522 



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.— Oribos moschatw. 



precipitous ground on which it loves to dwell, that it cannot be overtaken by any pursuer less 

 swift than an arrow or a 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 perftimed 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. 



Ov/'bos is a genus of sub-family CaprincE, the latter embracing the Sheep, Goats and 

 Musk Sheep. 



