THE HOLLOW-HORNED RUMINANTS 



191 



coarse grass, on which they nevertheless contrive to keep themselves in condition, feeding 111 

 the mornings and evenings, and lying down by day to rest among the rocks. 



THE III SON 



TllK BlSON form a marked group, differing from others of the Ox Tribe. They possess 

 fourteen pairs of ribs, while the oxen have only thirteen (the yak has fourteen); and have very 

 heavy, massive heads, broader and more convex foreheads than the oxen, longer spinal processes 

 on the vertebrae of the front part of the back, and larger muscles to hold the ponderous head, 

 causing a hump, which in the American bison is very marked. There arc two living species 

 of bison, one of which is found in Europe, the other in North America. 



The European Bison 



This is the most interesting survival of the primitive fauna of the Old World. It is still 

 found wild, though protected, in a large forest in Lithuania, the property of the Czar of Russia, 

 called the Forest of Bielowitza. A few are also left of the purely wild stock in the Caucasus. 

 Those in Lithuania have been protected for several centuries, and the herd is numbered from 

 time to time. In 1857 there were 1,898 of these bison left; in 1882 there were only 000; 

 in 1S89 the herd had sunk to 380, but in 1892 it had risen to 491. The presence of 

 the bison in the Caucasus had been almost forgotten till Mr. Littledale and Prince Demidoff 

 gave accounts of hunting it there quite recently. The ZUBR, as it is called, only survives 

 in some very inaccessible parts of the mountains, preserved by the Grand Duke Sergius 

 Michaelovitch, in the Kouban district. There it exists as a really wild animal. 'The dimensions 

 of one recently shot were 10 feet from the muzzle to the end of the last vertebra of the 

 tail. The Grand Duke has to obtain special permission from the Czar to shoot one whenever 

 he goes to the Caucasus. 



This bison seems to have been an inhabitant of most of the forests of Europe and 

 Northern Asia; its remains show that it existed in Britain, and it was plentiful in the Black 

 Forest in the time of Ca>sar. It is the largest of all European quadrupeds, measuring as 

 much as 10 feet 1 inch from the nose to the root of the tail, and standing nearly 6 feet 

 high at the shoulder. Prince Demidoff states his belief that it is found on the southern 

 slopes of the Caucasus Range between the hills and the Black Sea. The weight of this bison 

 reaches 1,700 lbs. It is now 

 rare to see more than five 

 or six together. Though the 

 animal is so massive, its horns 

 are rather small and slender, 

 and curve upwards. The 

 mane — which, like the rest of 

 the coat, is of a uniform rich 

 brown — is thick and curly, but 

 not developed like that of the 

 American bison. 



The Buffaloes. 

 The Buffaloes are so 

 far distinct from other 

 species of wild cattle that it 

 is said they will not inter- 

 breed with them ; yet one 

 species, the Indian Buf- 

 falo, has been domesti- INDIAN HUMPED CATTLE 



cated for a long, though These are often called Zebu in Europe, but the trigin of the name is unknown 



