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furnished with, horns, and their fore-feet, are terrible weapons. 
In their migrations, their numbers are so enormous, that as they 
advance everything that comes in their way is devastated. 
The Musk Ox ( Ovibos moschatus), Fig. 105, is much smaller than 
the Common Ox, and has somewhat the appearance of an enormous 
sheep. Its forehead is arched ; its mouth small ; its muzzle com- 
pletely covered with hair ; and its horns, which are very large, are 
closely united at the base, and bending downwards over the sides 
of its head, suddenly turn backwards and upwards at the tips. 
Its long and abundant coat is of a dark brown colour. • It exhales 
a strong odour of musk, which even impregnates the flesh. 
This animal, which is a combination of the Ox, Sheep, and 
Goat, inhabits North America below the polar circle, and lives 
in families of from ten to twenty individuals, among which 
there are seldom more than two or three males. In the month 
of August the latter become so jealous that they fight even to 
the very death. 
Notwithstanding its apparent heaviness, the Musk Ox climbs 
over rocks almost as nimbly as a Goat, and its speed across 
the rocky, rough, barren grounds, its principal habitat, for an 
animal so clumsy, is truly astonishing. 
The European Buffalo, or Auroch (Bison europceus), is, next to 
the Elephant, Rhinoceros, and Giraffe, the largest of terrestrial 
Mammals. It is nearly six feet high, measured at its withers. 
Its horns are large, round and lateral, and its tail is long; the 
front of the body, as far as the shoulders, is covered with coarse, 
harsh, brown hair; the underneath part of its throat, down to 
its breast, is furnished with a long pendulous mane, and the rest 
of its body is covered with short black hair. 
This animal is the Eras of the ancients. It formerly lived in 
all the marshy forests of temperate Europe, even in Great Britain. 
In the time of Caesar it was still to he found in Germany, hut, 
from the increase of Man and his conquests, it has become more 
and more rare. At the present time it is only to he found in 
two provinces of Russia — the forest of Bialowieza, in the govern- 
ment of Grodno, and the province of Awhasie, a dependency of 
the Caucasian region. Yery severe orders have been issued by 
the Emperor of Russia to prevent the destruction of these animals, 
and not one can he killed without his permission. 
