298 MOSTLY MAMMALS 



they were actually found in company. On the contrary, 

 it is more probable, as pointed out by Dr. Nehring, that 

 while the one frequented the low-lying and swampy forests, 

 the other resorted to the higher and drier woods. 



Of later chronicles than Caesar's one describing the 

 wars of Charlemagne in the early part of the ninth century 

 alludes to the king going to hunt bisons or aurochs 

 {bisontium vel urorum) in the forests of Aix-la-Chapelle. 

 The use of the term vel is a little ambiguous, but Prof. 

 Dawkins considers that the passage indicates the occurrence 

 of both species in the forest, while he is also of opinion 

 that the animal slain by Charlemagne was undoubtedly an 

 aurochs. Of special importance is the mention of both 

 bison and aurochs (urus) in a grace used at the Abbey of 

 St. Gall about the year 1000. Another important state- 

 ment is to the effect that aurochs and elk were met with 

 by the First Crusade when crossing Germany at the close 

 of the eleventh century, special reference being made to 

 the enormous size of the horns of the former animals. 

 Again, in the " Nibelungen-Lied," of the twelfth century, 

 Siegfried is related to have killed a bison and four aurochs 

 near Worms. 



A work by the German writer Herberstain, entitled 

 " Moscovia," of which an Italian translation was published 

 at Venice in 1550, affords the most important evidence 

 of any as to the survival of the aurochs in Poland (and 

 probably also in Hungary) during the later Middle Ages. 

 In this work appear woodcuts — rude, it is true, but still 

 characteristic and unmistakable — of two perfectly distinct 

 types of European wild cattle, one being the aurochs, or 

 ur, and the other the bison. As Herberstain had travelled 

 frequently in Poland, it is probable that he had seen both 

 species alive, and the drawings were most likely executed 



