THE EUROPEAN BISON 85 



Tame or wild, Lithuanian or Caucasian, the 

 bonasus is a splendid creature whose extinction 

 would be an irreparable loss to Zoology. He is not 

 stately like the giraffe, useful like the elephant, nor 

 beautiful like the zebra ; yet his very uncouth 

 sturdiness and his rugged home, not amid tropical 

 verdure, but amid hardy pines and rowans, make 

 him a picturesque and striking figure. Long 

 may he frequent the icy peaks dim with mist and 

 white with snowfields ; long may he pasture 

 beside the mountain rill, swim the turquoise lakes, 

 and repose under the spreading boughs on a couch 

 of pine needles a wild dweller in a wild region ! 

 The bison is not British, but he is very European ; 

 and all lovers of wild life will wish him well. 



