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                  _THE AMERICAN SPORTSMAN’S LIBRARY_

                              _EDITED BY
                            CASPAR WHITNEY_

                         MUSK-OX, BISON, SHEEP
                               AND GOAT

                            [Illustration]

                            [Illustration]




                         MUSK-OX, BISON, SHEEP
                               AND GOAT

                                  BY
                            CASPAR WHITNEY
                         GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL
                                  AND
                              OWEN WISTER

                            [Illustration]

                               New York
                         THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
                     LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD.
                                 1904

                         _All rights reserved_

                           COPYRIGHT, 1904,
                       BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.

          Set up, electrotyped, and published February, 1904.

                            _Norwood Press
               J. S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith Co.
                        Norwood, Mass., U.S.A._




CONTENTS

    CHAPTER                                                   PAGE

    THE MUSK-OX. BY CASPAR WHITNEY

          I. MY FIRST KILL                                      17

         II. THE PROVISION QUESTION                             32

        III. SEASONS AND EQUIPMENT                              44

         IV. METHOD OF HUNTING                                  56

          V. THE MUSK-OX                                        70

    THE BISON. BY GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL                         107

    THE MOUNTAIN SHEEP: HIS WAYS. BY OWEN WISTER               167

    THE WHITE GOAT AND HIS WAYS. BY OWEN WISTER                227

    INDEX                                                      277




ILLUSTRATIONS


    THE BEGINNING OF THE SLAUGHTER                  _Frontispiece_

                                                              PAGE

    IN THE FAR NORTH                                            15

    AT BAY                                                      30

    OUTNUMBERED                                                 45

    EAST GREENLAND MUSK-OX CALF                                 57

    HEAD OF TWO-YEAR-OLD MUSK-OX BULL                           57

    MUSK-OXEN ON CAPE MORRIS JESUP, BROUGHT TO BAY BY DOGS      65

    THE AUTHOR’S BARREN GROUND HUNTING KNIFE AND AX             67

    THE BARREN GROUND MUSK-OX--A FULL-GROWN BULL                71

    FOREFOOT OF BARREN GROUND MUSK-OX                           76

    FULL-GROWN EAST GREENLAND MUSK-OX--ADULT MALE               77

    FOREFOOT OF EAST GREENLAND MUSK-OX                          79

    SKULL OF THE EAST GREENLAND MUSK-OX--FRONT VIEW             82

    SKULL OF THE BARREN GROUND MUSK-OX--FRONT VIEW              82

    SKULL OF THE EAST GREENLAND MUSK-OX--SIDE VIEW              83

    SKULL OF THE BARREN GROUND MUSK-OX--SIDE VIEW               83

    MALE YEARLING OF THE EAST GREENLAND MUSK-OX                 87

    ADULT FEMALE OF THE EAST GREENLAND MUSK-OX                  95

    MUSK-OX CALF                                               101

    THE LAST OF THE HERD                                       109

    PROTECTED                                                  139

    ROCKY MOUNTAIN SHEEP                                       169

    ALERT                                                      177

    UNDER A HOT SKY                                            187

    SURPRISED                                                  201

    THE SADDLEBACK SHEEP                                       213

    ABOVE TIMBER LINE                                          229

    THE WHITE GOAT IS AN AGILE CLIMBER                         253




THE MUSK-OX AND ITS HUNTING

BY CASPAR WHITNEY

[Illustration: IN THE FAR NORTH]


I

MY FIRST KILL

We had passed through the “Land of Little Sticks,” as the Indians so
appropriately call that desolate waste which connects the edge of
timber land with the Barren Grounds, and had been for several days
making our way north on the lookout for any living thing that would
provide us with a mouthful of food.

We had got into one of those pieces of this great barren area, which,
broken by rocky ridges, of no great height but of frequent occurrence,
are unspeakably harassing to the travelling snow-shoer. It was the
third twelve hours of our fast, save for tea and the pipe, and all day
we had been dragging ourselves