The American Buffalo. 347 



*' The generic name is derived from Pliny, who applied the 

 word Bison, Wild Ox, to one of the species on the Eastern 

 continent. 



" There are five species of Buffalo that may be conveniently 

 arranged under this genus : one existing in the forests of Southern 

 Russia, in Asia, in the Circassian Mountains, and the Desert of 

 Kobi, one in Ethiopia and the forests of India, one on the moun- 

 tains of Central Asia, one in Ceylon, and one in America. In 

 addition to this the genus Bos, which formerly included the pre- 

 sent, contains five well determined species: one inhabiting the 

 country near the Cape of Good Hope, one in Central Africa, one 

 in the Himalaya Mountains and the Birman Empire, one in India, 

 and one in the forests of middle Europe." (Adubon and Bach- 

 man, vol. 2, page 32.) 



Bison Americanus. — Gmel. 



SJPECiFic Characters. — Forehead, broad; slightly arched 

 horns^ small, short, diverted laterally and upwards; tail, short ; 

 legs, slender ; shoulders, elevated ; hair, soft and woolly P 



"This, the most gigantic of the indigenous mammalia of 

 America, once overspread the entire southern half of the continent. 

 At the time of the discovery by the Spaniards, an inhabitant even 

 down to the shores of the Atlantic, it has been beaten back by 

 the westward march of civilization, until, at the present day, it is 

 only after passing the giant Missouri and the head-waters of the 

 Mississippi that we find the American bison or buffalo. Many 

 causes have combined to drive them away from their old haunts : 

 the wholesale and indiscriminate slaughter by the whites, the ex- 

 tension of settlements, and the changes of the face of the country ; 

 but, above all, that mysterious dread of the white man, which per- 

 vades animal life in general as a congenital instinct." 



" Still it would appear that the buff'alo was originally confined 

 within certain limits, which, perhaps, varied from time to time, as 

 they certainly have done within comparatively a recent period. 

 We have already referred to the fact of their existence on the 



Note. — The account of the Buflfalo here given, is taken from a paper 

 " on the ruminating animals of N'orth America, and their susceptibility of 

 domestication," by Professor S. F. Baird, of the Smithsonian Institution. — 

 "Patent Office Eeport," Washington, 1861. 



