URUS AND AUROCHS 



in the possession of which it suggests the antelope 

 known as the Saiga. 



The American moose is a larger animal than its 

 European relative, and it is mainly on this account 

 that it has been proposed to separate the two speci- 

 fically. In this case the name elk is to be reserved for 

 the Norway beast, and moose for the Canadian variety. 

 The word moose is a native name and therefore an 

 excellent vernacular word to use. It is of the Algonquin 

 language and seems to signify " wood eater." 



There are frequently examples to be seen at the Zoo. 



THE URUS 



For a good many years past the Zoological Society 

 have been in possession of examples of the British wild 

 bull : and so satisfactory are the conditions obtaining 

 in the cattle sheds at the Zoo, that these animals have 

 regularly bred, and the calves reared to maturity. 

 The ox is white and should have red ears and a black 

 muzzle. Black ears occur ; and it is thought that 

 white is not the primitive character. Indeed white 

 is not as a rule a colour found in Nature though many 

 examples can be at once quoted of its occurrence, such 

 as the pelican, the bell bird, etc., etc. These animals, 

 semi-domestic in the parks of Chillingham, Cadzow, 

 and elsewhere, are in all probability the real and 

 comparatively unaltered descendants of the primitive 

 wild ox of Great Britain and the continent of Europe. 

 They appear, however, to be smaller than the original 

 and wild Bos primigenius. We know the latter of 

 course by its sub fossil remains in fens and peat-bogs. It 

 seems that in very early times, at any rate in those 

 which we call " Neolithic," the urus was tamed by 

 man and kept for the sake of its milk and beef. Caesar's 

 description of the Gauls would seem to apply to 

 Neolithic man in this country ; he no doubt was of those 



