78 Oxen 



frequent the moister districts of the forest, but with the advent of winter 

 seek drier spots where the cov^ert is less dense. The old hulls are solitary, 

 but younger animals consort in summer in parties ot from fifteen to twenty 

 head, although in winter thev collect in herds ot troni thirty to fifty. 

 Each herd has its own particular grazing ground, trom which it seldom 

 wanders far. Till the commencement ot the pairing season, which takes 

 place in August and the early part ot September, peace reigns among these 

 herds ; but when two strange herds meet quarrels not unh-equently arise, 

 and during the pairing season the old hulls engage in desperate encounters 

 among themselves for the possession ot the cows. Bison are active both 

 during the daytime and the night, but their chiet feeding times are during 

 the early mornings and evenings. 



Although their large size and stout build might suggest the itlea that 

 their movements are slow, yet such is bv no means the case ; their first 

 pace when disturbed is a quick trot, which subsequently quickens into a 

 gallop, during which the head is lowered nearly to the ground, and the 

 tail elevated and carried nearly horizontallv. Major Heher Percy thus 

 describes a bison-tirive in Bielowitza : " We waited in perfect silence for 

 about half an hour, and then I heard the breaking ot sticks and crashing of 

 branches as the herd approached at a gallop. There were about fifteen 

 of them, all thoroughly alarmed, and presenting exactly the appearance 

 of a herd of American bison, the same carriage of the heat! and the tail 

 carried in the same manner. Though 1 had but one short view of them, 

 one bull immediately caught my eve as being much larger than the others. 

 ... At that moment they disappeared in the lirushwood, but I could hear 

 them coming straight on towards me, so cocking my rifie, I waited for 

 them to cross the glade to my left. Louder came the noise or the crashing 

 of branches ; and out burst the leading animal across the clearing about 

 eighty yards from me, closely followed by the second and remaimler of the 

 herd. Directly the second appeareti, I fired at it and rolled it over." 



