118 FOUR-FOOTED AMERICANS 



ill Exile,' " said the Doctor, as he fastened the picture 

 with thumb pins beside the map on the wall, '' and I 

 will tell you why the Buffalo was a king, where his 

 kingdom was, and how he comes now to be exiled." 



''My ! " said Dodo, studying the picture, "he looks 

 like a great, wild, hump-backed bull gone to fur. 

 Doesn't the Buffalo belong to the cow family ? " 



Nat laughed, l)ut the Doctor said : ''Both the im- 

 ported race of cows and this wild American belong to 

 the Bovidce, which we may call the meat family for 

 short, because all the members of it are good for food. 

 The members of this meat family have their toes 

 arranged in cloven hoofs, and wear pairs of hollow 

 horns which, when once grown, last for life. They all 

 chew the cud and are therefore vegetable eaters. You 

 can easily remember that all of the meat family belong 

 to the guild of Hoofed, Hollow-horned Cud-chewers." 



"Are not the horns of all animals Jiollow, and don't 

 they last for life, unless something breaks them ? " 

 asked Rap. 



"No, the meat family have hollow, curving, rather 

 smooth horns, that begin to sprout when the animal is 

 a few months old, and continue growing until the 

 wearer is fully grown. In the Deer family of cud- 

 chewers these horns, or antlers as they are then called, 

 are of solid bone, pronged, tined, or spreading. They 

 are shed and grown anew every year, and the reason for 

 this is very interesting — horns, prongs, and antlers 

 being a whole story by itself. Now let me return to 

 our Buffalo. First look at the head and hide, then at 

 the complete animal in the picture. Can you imagine 

 a more powerful or fierce beast ? " 



