General Zoological Changes. 313 



the remainder is overgrown with Scotch and red firs, in the 

 proportion of -£; and with numerous species of deciduous 

 trees, in that of -f . A list of these may be found in Baron de 

 Brincken's 'Memoire descriptif sur laforet imperial e de Bia- 

 lowicza, &c.' Varsovie, 1826. In this forest, where the elk 

 is also still met with, there were, according to the census of 

 1828, given by Mr. Eichwald, 696 head of zubrs, and thirty 

 or forty besides in a neighbouring wood of comparatively small 

 extent. Mr. Jarocki, who gives the number of them after the 

 census of 1829, states the sum total of the adult individuals 

 to have been at that time 663, and 48 calves besides. Whe- 

 ther the number has subsequently considerably decreased, as 

 supposedhj Dr. H. O. Lenz, ('Gemeinnutzige Naturgeshichte' 

 p. 419), in consequence of the Polish revolution, is to me ve- 

 ry doubtful, as I have been assured by a Polish gentleman, 

 that the forest of Bialowicza had not, in any appreciable de- 

 gree, been disturbed during that period. 



In this forest the zubr lives, under the protection of strict, 

 but no longer inhuman game laws, as much as possible in its 

 primitive state of locality and liberty. Yet are they so far af- 

 fected by the cultivation which circumscribes them, that with- 

 out the assistance of man, they could not well get through the 

 winter. During that season, they receive supplies of hay at 

 certain places, where the stacks must be well secured, other- 

 wise the zubrs break in to them, and spoil much more than 

 they consume, by thrusting their heads deeply into the mass 

 of hay, in order to get at the most fragrant part of it. 



All noisy occupations are strictly prohibited in those parts 

 of the forest where the zubrs live, and when wolves are hunt- 

 ed, it is done with great caution and but few dogs. 



The manner of hunting the zubr, as described by Herber- 

 stein, is no longer in use. "Those," he says, "who hunt the 

 bison must be very strong, adroit, and knowing men. A spot 

 is selected where the trees are at the proper distance from each 

 other, and neither too thick in the trunks, that the hunters 

 may be able to get quickly round them, nor too thin, that they 

 may be sufficiently protected. Near such trees a number of 

 hunters are posted singly ; and when a bison has been driven 

 to the spot by the dogs, it makes a violent rush at the first 

 hunter who may present himself. He, however, screens him- 

 self behind his tree, and wounds the animal with his spear. 

 But the bison is not so easily killed, and becoming more and 

 more furious, rages not only with its horns, but likewise thrusts 

 out its tongue, which is so rough, that when it catches any 

 part of the hunter's dress, the man is lost ; for the bison will 

 pull him down and kill him on the spot. If however a hunter 



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