248 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



of the vertebrae; a short tail; long woolly hair, especially on 

 the head and fore parts. 



_ , ^ 0-0 0-0 ^s , SS 



leeth: Inc. ; can. ; prem. ; mol. =22 



4-4 0-0 3-3 3-3 



The American Buffalo, in addition to the Family and 

 generic characteristics, has peculiarities of size and colour in- 

 dicated by the following: 

 SIZE A large bull shot by Dr. W. T. Hornaday in Montana, 



December 6, 1886, measured:^ 



Height at shoulders 5 ft. 8 in. 



Length of head and body to insertion of tail . 10 " 2 " 



Depth of chest 3 " 10 " 



Girth behind forelegs 8 " 4 " 



Circumference of muzzle behind nostrils . . 2 " 2 " 



Length of tail vertebrae I " 3 " 



Length of hair on shoulders 6| " 



Length of hair on forehead i " 4 " 



Length of chin beard ii|" 



1,727 mm.) 



3,100 mm.) 



1,169 miTi-) 



2,542 mm.) 



661 mm.) 



381 mm.) 



165 mm.) 



407 mm.) 



292 mm.) 



This was a typical Buffalo bull, but specimens of over 

 6 feet (1,830 mm.) at the withers have been recorded. 



An adult cow measured at the same time was 4 feet 

 10 inches at the shoulders (1,474 mm.). , 



HEAD It is customary to speak of the enormous head of the 



Buffalo bull as a thing out of proportion to his bulk; but the 

 Buffalo head, divested of its wool, is of the same proportion as 

 that of the horse, ox, or dog. That is to say that, at the shoul- 

 der, the animal is 2| heads high, and that the body from the 

 shoulder point to the croup is about 2| heads. 



According to Montague Brown (in " Encyclopedia of 

 Sport"), the largest recorded horns of this animal are 21 inches 

 long with a girth of 15 inches; but August Gottschalk, of Boze- 

 man, Mont., has sent me statements, fully and legally attested, 



* Ext. Am. Bison, 1889, p. 405. 



