OXEN, SHEEP, AND GOAT FAMILY 



41 



Remarks. — The Bison is the only wild ox, with 

 the exception of the Musk-Ox, found in North America. 

 There is no animal with which it may be confused 

 although the term Buffalo, through its common use for 

 oxen of the Old World, is not a happy name for the 

 Bison. There is but one species of Bison, which con- 

 tains two sub-species. 



Related Forms 

 American Bison. — Bison bison bison (Linnaeus). 

 The typical form. 



Woodland Bison. — Bison bison athabascae 

 Rhoads. Larger and darker than the typical Bison 

 with longer, more slender horns. Found formerly in 

 the wooded uplands from Great Slave Lake south 

 probably to the United States. Known now only from 

 a few survivors along the Great Slave River. 



Because of its northern distribution this animal did 

 not come so much into contact with white men and 

 civilization, but rather with Hudson Bay trappers and 

 Indians. Its habits and characteristics were much the 

 same as those of its southern relative. 



The American Bison has long been popularly, 

 through erroneously, known as the Buffalo, and 

 the two terms will be used synonymously here. 

 For the benefit of the non-naturalist it may be 

 explained that a true Buffalo has no hump over 

 its shoulders. Such an animal is the Water 

 Buffalo of India, or the Carabao of the Philip- 

 pine Islands. The American Buffalo has a con- 

 siderable hump, and is a Bison. It is a large, 

 massive animal, a fine adult bull measuring 

 eleven feet from nose to root of tail, and five to 

 six feet in height at the shoulders. Its average 

 weight is about 1800 pounds, but a large speci- 

 men has weighed as much as 2190 pounds; the 

 females are considerably smaller than the males. 

 Its horns are sometimes twenty-two inches in 

 length, with a girth of sixteen and three-eighths 

 inches at the base, and a spread of thirty-five 

 inches from tip to tip. In yearlings, the horns 

 are four to six inches long. Until four years 

 old, the young males are called " spike-bulls," 

 and their horns are jet black. In the adult, they 

 become grayish. The forequarters are very 

 heavy and covered with dense hair, and the tail 

 has a terminal tassel. 



The upper part of the body and the hind 

 quarters are of a pale gray-brown ; the lower 

 parts, dark brown. The hump is covered with a 

 dense mass of yellow-brown hair; the head, 

 under part of the neck, and the forelegs as far 

 as the knees bear a covering of shaggy hair 

 shading from dark brown above into black below. 

 The body color of the cow is darker. The coat 

 of the Bison is at its best in November and De- 

 cember. By March it has become weather- 

 beaten and shabby, and shedding begins. For 

 the next three months the old coat hangs in 

 'rags, and the animal presents a most dilapidated 

 appearance. 



Naturally among the millions of individual 

 Buffaloes a few years ago, the hide, or " robe," 

 as it was termed, exhibited many color varieties. 

 Thus there were black, blue, beaver, buckskin, 

 and white or pied robes. The last-mentioned 



were considered the rarest. The great Cheyenne 

 chief Roman Nose had a magnificent pure white 

 robe, which he called his " great medicine," and 

 which he was wearing when he fell before For- 

 syth's troops. 



It seems pretty well established that the Bison 

 is polygamous, the observations of Audubon and 

 Bachman to the contrary notwithstanding. The 

 breeding season is from June to September. The 

 cow does not breed till her third year. The com- 

 bined bellowing, or " roaring " as it is called, of 

 the bulls in the breeding time can be heard for 

 miles. The calves ( usually one, sometimes 

 twins) are born about May or June. In their 

 wild state, during the few first days of their life 

 they were formerly subject to the depredations 

 of the Coyote and Gray, or Buffalo Wolf. 

 Against one or two of these the cow could suc- 

 cessfully defend her offspring, but if the assail- 

 ants were numerous she would bellow to the 

 bulls for assistance.. These would qtiickly respond 

 and would stand in a circle around the calf, while 

 the wolves " at some twelve or fifteen paces dis- 

 tant sat licking their chops in impatient expect- 

 ancy." An incident of this nature was witnessed 

 by an army surgeon, as related in " Plains of the 

 Great West." The doctor determined to watch 

 the performance. After a few moments the knot 

 broke up. and, still keeping in a compact mass, 

 started on a trot for the main herd, some half a 

 mile off. To his very great astonishment, the 

 doctor now saw that the central and controlling 

 figure of this mass was a poor little calf, so newly 

 born as scarcely to be able to walk. After going 

 fifty to one hundred paces the calf lay down, the 

 bulls disposed themselves in a circle as before, 

 and the wolves who had trotted along on each 

 side of their retreating supper, sat down and 

 licked their chops again ; and so. though the 

 doctor did not see the finale, it being late and 

 the camp distant, he had no doubt that the noble 

 fathers did their whole duty by their offspring, 

 and carried it safely to the herd. In less than a 

 week from their birth the calves are strong 



