The polar and tropical worlds: a description of man and nature in the polar and equatorial regions of the globe . ARCTIC LAND QUADRUPEDS AND BIRDS. 41 Island, or even Smiths Sound, wliere a number of its bones were found bvDr. ivane. In September it withdraws more to the south, and spends thecoldest months on the verge of the foi-est region. Like the reindeer, it sub-sists chiefly on lichens and grasses. It runs nimbly, and climbs hills and rockswith great ease. Its fossil remains, or those of a very analogous species, havebeen discovered in Siberia: at present it is exclusively confined to th
The polar and tropical worlds: a description of man and nature in the polar and equatorial regions of the globe . ARCTIC LAND QUADRUPEDS AND BIRDS. 41 Island, or even Smiths Sound, wliere a number of its bones were found bvDr. ivane. In September it withdraws more to the south, and spends thecoldest months on the verge of the foi-est region. Like the reindeer, it sub-sists chiefly on lichens and grasses. It runs nimbly, and climbs hills and rockswith great ease. Its fossil remains, or those of a very analogous species, havebeen discovered in Siberia: at present it is exclusively confined to the NewWorld. In the Rocky Mountains, from the Mexican Cordillera plateaux as far as 68°N. lat., dwells the wild sheep ( Ovis montana), distinguished by the almost cir-cular bend of its large, triangular, transversely striped horns, from its relative. the Siberian argali (Ovis arrjaU), which is supposed to be the parent of our do-mestic sheep, and far surpasses it in size and delicacy of flesh. Both the Amer-ican and the Asiatic wild sheep are in the highest degree active and vigorous,ascending abrupt precipices with great agility, and, like the wild goat, goingover the narrowest and most dangerous passes with perfect safety. Among the carnivorous quadrupeds of the northern regions, many, like thelynx, the wolf, the bear, the glutton, and other members of the weasel trilie,have their head-quarters in the forests, and only occasionally Ioani over the tun- 42 THE POLAR WORLD. dras ; but the Arctic fox ( Canis lagopus) almost exclusively inhabits the treelesswastes that fringe the Polar Ocean, and is found on almost all the islands that lie])uried in its bosom. This ])retty little creature, which in winter grows per-fectly white, knows how to protect itself against the most intense cold, either byseeking a refuge in the clefts of rock
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