4 PLEISTOCENE MAMMALIA. 



In this brief resume of the external characters of Ovibos, the truth of M. de Blainville's 

 views as to its place in the scale between Ovis, on the one hand, and Bos on the other, 

 is most amply proved. In addition to the absence of a muffle and of a dewlap, on which 

 his classification is principally based, the hairiness of its nostrils, the shortness of its tail, 

 the want of symmetry in its hoofs, differentiate it from all the Oxen, Bisons, and Buffaloes, 

 and especially from Bubalus Coffer, to which it bears a mere superficial resemblance in the 

 large size and downward direction of the horns, and the close approximation of their bases 

 in the adult males. In these points also it has a still closer resemblance to the Gnu or 

 Wildebest of the Cape, as well as in the long hair on its chin and neck, and the erect hair 

 between its shoulders, while its smallness of ear, shortness of tail, and want of symmetry of 

 hoof, are among the differences. 



§ 3. Habits and present Range. — The Ovibos moschatus at the present day is confined 

 to the North-American continent, where it ranges over the treeless barren grounds from 

 the river Mackenzie, through 105 degrees of longitude, along with Eskimos, Reindeer, 

 Wolvereenes, Bears, and various species of Lemming, Spermophilus, and Hare. The 

 Mackenzie is its western limit according to Sir John Richardson ; but as Capt. Beechey 

 found that it was known to the Eskimos near Eschscholtz Bay, it probably ranges con- 

 siderably further westward. Its southern limit is a line drawn along the edge of the 

 woods " from the entrance of the Welcome into Hudson's Bay, about the 60th parallel of 

 latitude, in a westward and northward direction, to the 66th parallel at the north-east 

 corner of Great Bear Lake, and from thence ranging in the same direction to Cape 

 Bathurst, in the 71st parallel." In the last century it ranged a degree further southwards, 

 being found by Hearne, the enterprising explorer of the Copper Mine River, in 1769, a 

 little to the north of Churchill, in lat. 59°. North of this line it is found throughout 

 the barren grounds as far as the shores of the Arctic Sea. From the main land it comes 

 over to the islands north and east, since Capt. Parry and Lieut. McClintock killed several 

 of them on Melville Island, lat. 75°. It is gregarious in habit, the herds, according to 

 Mr. Hearne, amounting sometimes to eighty or a hundred head, in which there are seldom 

 more than two or three full-grown males. They delight in the most stony and mountainous 

 parts, and climb rocks with great facility, being as sure-footed as the goat. They seem 

 fondest of grass; but when they cannot get that in the winter, they feed on moss, the tops 

 of the willows, and the tender branches of the pine trees. They are able to bear all the 

 severity of an arctic winter, the large quantity of dung, observed by Mr. Hearne on the 

 snow at the mouth of the Coppermine, proving that the locality had been inhabited by them 

 during the winter of 1770-1. Generally, however, in common with the Caribou and other 

 arctic Mammals, their migrations are regulated by the season, and they do not remain in 

 the same place throughout the year. They are not found in Greenland or Spitzbergen. 



