THE RUSSIAN BISON. 203 



very loud, stepped back a few paces, and bolted at his 

 legs with all its force ; it then began to paw again, 

 bellowed, stepped back and bolted as before. The observer, 

 however, now knowing its intention, stepped aside, so that 

 it missed its aim and fell, when it was so very weak that it 

 could not rise, though it made several efforts to do so. But 

 it had done enough ; the whole herd had taken the alarm, 

 and, coming to its rescue, obliged the intruder to retire. 



In the forests of Lithuania there yet linger a few herds 

 of another enormous ox, which at one time roamed over 

 the whole of Europe, including even the British Isles — 

 the European bison. The great marshy forest of Bialo- 

 wicza, in which it dwells, is believed to be the only ex- 

 ample of genuine primeval or purely natural forest yet 

 remaining in Europe, and the habits of the noble ox are 

 in accordance with the prestige of his ancient domain. 



A few years ago the Czar of Russia presented a pair 

 of half-grown animals of this species to the Zoological 

 Society of London ; and a very interesting memoir on 

 their capture, by M. Dolmatoff, was published in their 

 Proceedings. A few extracts from that paper will illus- 

 trate the seclusion of their haunts and manners. " The 

 day was magnificent, the sky serene, there was not a 

 breath of wind, and nothing interrupted that calm of 

 nature which was so imposing under the majestic dome 

 of the primitive forest. Three hundred trackers, sup- 

 ported by fifty hunters, had surrounded, in profound 

 silence, the solitary valley where the herd of bisons were 

 found. Myself, accompanied by thirty other hunters, 



