﻿FIELD AND FOREST. 15T 



provided with horns, which are large and very remarkable, being not 

 unlike those of the ram in general appearance, but lacking the trans- 

 verse corrugations of that animal. In the male the horns are joined 

 at their bases, and fall down on either side of the head from their 

 insertion, curving slightly forward through the middle third, while the 

 tip is turned sharply upward. In the female these weapons are set 

 wide apart, falling down and curving in the same manner as the male; 

 but without the upturned tips. 



These are powerful weapons either for offense or defence, pro- 

 tecting the wearer effectually from the assaults of the polar bear, or 

 the arctic wolf. The horns are very broad at their base, but taper 

 swiftly toward the points which are very sharp; they are of a dull 

 white color, rough at the basal extremity, but smooth and shining 

 beyond, and black at the tips. 



The legs are short and almost hidden by the voluminous fleece ; 

 hoofs broad and inflexed, making a track not dissimilar to that of the 

 raindeer, — possibly a trifle longer, from which it is difficult to be dis- 

 tinguished, except by the more experienced hunters. The shortness 

 of its legs render it admirably suited to barren grounds — as the treeless 

 arctic wastes of America are called — and of which it is a characteristic 

 inhabitant ; yet it runs with speed, and climbs high and steep rocks 

 with the agility of the chamois or mountain goat. 



Although not generally believed to be an inhabitant of Greenland, 

 it is certainly a visitant, as proven by the remains so frequently found, 

 though no living specimens have chanced to meet the eye of the Cau- 

 cassian explorer. Their western limit appears to be the 130th degree 

 of longitude west from Greenwich. Braving, as it does the fierce 

 blasts and biting cold of an arctic winter, the musk ox is forced, like 

 the raindeer, to feed upon the tripe de roche and other lichens of the 

 region, and like the latter quadruped it posesses an unerring instinct 

 which points out to the hungry animal the whereabouts of food, which 

 it easily procures even when buried to considerable depth by " earth's 

 snow mantle," by digging with its sharp hoofs. During the spring 

 and summer they feed upon the tender shoots of the willow, its leaves 

 and buds, and the stunted herbage of the barrens. 



Like other bovines, the musk ox is gregarious, and may be found in 

 herds varying in numbers from twenty to fifty, or more rarely eighty 

 to one hundred. One marked peculiarity of these droves is the small 



