11ITTF.HX. 



buffaloes, and by these animala supplied w ith all the luxuries uf life 

 v. lii.-h they desirr, u they know uf none others." 



" The flesh of a bison in good condition," say* the author hut 

 quoted, " is very juicy and wrll-flavourod, much rent-milling that of 

 well-fed bef." Others describe it iw bearing the same relation to 

 common beef that venison bean to mutton. The tongue, when well 

 cured, ia laid to surpass that of the common ox aa a relish. All 

 concur in the praises of the delicious hump, rich, aavoury, and tender. 

 Thin in the fleshy part that covers the long spinous proceoaea of the 

 anterior dorsal verU'bnr. and is called ' bos ' by the Canadian voyager*, 

 and ' wig' by the Orkney men in the service of the Hudson'a Bay 

 Company, according to Sir John Richardson, who says that much of 

 the pemmican uaed by the voyagers attached to the fur companies is 

 made of bison meat, procured at their posts on the Red River and 

 Saskatchewan : he adds, that one bison cow in good condition 

 furnishes dried meat and fat enough to make a bag of pemmican 

 weighing 90 Ibs. 



The fat bulls yield a great quantity of tallow ; and Du Pratz . 

 records that ISO Ibs. have been procured from a single beast. 

 Pennant says that these over-fed animals usually become the prey 

 of wolves, for, by reason of their great unwieldineas, they cannot 

 keep up with the herd ; and, on the authority of Du Pratz, gives 

 the following account of their sagacity in defending themselves 

 against the atacks of their fierce persecutors : " When they scent the 

 approach of a drove of those ravenous creatures, the herd flings itself 

 into the form of a circle : the weakest keep in the middle, the 

 strongest are ranged on the outside, presenting to the enemy an 

 impenetrable front of horns : should they be taken by surprise, and 

 have recourse to flight, numbers of the fattest or the weakest are sure 

 to perish." Sir John Richardson however, speaking of the numerous 

 wolves on the sandy plains which, lying to the eastward of the Rocky 

 Mountains, extend from the sources of the Peace and Saskatchewan 

 rivers towards the Missouri, says that there bands of them hang on 

 the skirts of the buffalo herds, and prey upon the sick and straggling 

 calves, but that they do not, under ordinary circumstances, venture 

 to attack the full-grown animal. As a proof of this, he adds, that the 

 hunters informed him that they often saw wolves walking through a 

 herd of bulls without exciting the least alarm, and that the marksmen, 

 when they crawl towards a bison for the purpose of shooting it, occa- 

 sionally wear a cap with two ears in imitation of the head of a wolf, 

 knowing from experience that they will be suffered to approach nearer 

 in that guise. 



The Grisly Bear is one of the most formidable enemies of the 

 American Bison ; and the strongest bull goes down before him. 



The Indian is too wild in his habits to submit to the fetters which 

 an attempt to domesticate animals would impose upon his liberty ; a 

 child of the wilderness, he depends on his bow or his rifle for his sub- 

 sistence, and wanders free. It is not therefore surprising that no 

 attempt should have been made by the aboriginal inhabitants to 

 reduce the Bison to obedience. Catesby however says that these 

 animals have been known to breed with tame cattle that were become 

 wild, but that the calves being so too were neglected, " and though," 

 he continues, "it is the general opinion that if reclaiming these 

 animals were not impracticable (of which no trial has been made), to 

 mix the breed with tame cattle would much improve the breed, yet 

 nobody has had the curiosity nor have given themselves any trouble 

 about it." Pennant states that the experiment has been mode, and 

 that it has failed, for he thus writes in his 'Arctic Zoology:' 

 " Attempts have been made to tame and domesticate the wild bison, 

 by catching the calves and bringing them up with the common kind, in 

 hopes of improving the breed. It has not yet been found to answer : 

 notwithstanding they had the appearance for a time of having lost 

 their savage nature, yet they always grew impatient of restraint, and, 

 by reason of their great strength, would break down the strongest 

 inclofture, and entice the tame cattle into the corn-fields. They have 

 been known to engender together anil to breed ; but I cannot learn 

 whether the species was meliorated by the intercourse." 



A very fine American Bison bull was shown some years ago in this 

 country as the ' Ronasmis,' and under that name found its way into the 

 epilogu*- of tin- Westminster Play as one of the wonders of the day. 

 It was afterwards purchased by the Zoological Society of London ; 

 but it had been enfeebled by confinement and disease, and died soon 

 after the Society became possessed of it The Hudson's Bay Company 

 mipplied its place by presenting a young cow in 1829, which is still 

 alive in the Gardens, Regent's Park (July, 1853.) 



(Owen, Brilitk Potnl Mammal* and Bird* ; Vasey, Dtlinealioiu of 

 OU Ox-Tribe; Cuvier, Oaemeiu PouUt* ; \. Whit.-, f'njnilar Jfutiinf uf 

 Mammalia: Protetd mg of Zooloyical Society.) 



P.I'sToN. a genus of Moths, Wl.nging U> the family Geometrida. 

 The principal distinguishing characters of this genus are as follows : 

 Palpi short and three-jointed; antenna- rather long, and distim-tly 

 pectinated in the males, each joint being furnished with a ciliated 

 branch, and thene branches longest on the central joints (in the females 

 them branches are wanting, or nearly so) ; body thick ; wings present 

 in both sexes, not very thickly covered with scale*, and henoe slightly 

 transparent, especially in the females. The larva has ten legs, and is 

 elongate, cylindrical, and tiiberctilated, and his the head more r ! - 



notched in front ; it assumes the pupa state underground at the roots 

 <>f trees. 



There appears to be an analogical resemblance between these moths 

 :in,l the Ao/orfon/frfir, their larva: showing that they are not other- 

 wise allied. The imago state of the species however may be dis- 

 tinguished by the different texture of the wings, and structure of the 

 antenuic. 



Three species of this genus have been discovered in this country : 

 Rittim prodrumaria, the Oak-Beauty; B. bttularixt, the Pepper-Moth ; 

 and B. hirtariiu, the Brindled Beauty. The first of these has the 

 antenna? bipectinated to the apex, and the last two have the antenna; 

 simple at the apex in the males. 



]!. prodromaria has the wings of on ash-colour, or approaching to 

 white, finely sprinkled with black : each of the npprr wings has two 

 transverse bent fascia; of a brown colour, more or leas margined with 

 block, and the under wings have one fascia of the same description. 

 When the wings are expanded it measures from on inch and a half to 

 two inches in width. 



The caterpillar feeds upon the oak, poplar, &c. The moth is rare, 

 but in found in the month of March in the trunks of oak trees in the 

 neighbourhood of London, and elsewhere. 



B. bettUariui has received the name of Pepper -Moth from its being 

 of a white colour, and, as it were, peppered with black almost 

 uniformly over the wings. 



This moth is about the same size as the last, and is not uncommon 

 in the month of June in woods near London, and in other parts. Its 

 caterpillar feeds upon the oak, willow, poplar, elm, &c. 



II. hirtariut is of a brown colour, dotted with gray, with three or 

 four transverse block bent lines on each wing, and a whitish fascia 

 near the hinder margin. It is common among poplar and lime-trees, 

 and is about on inch and three-quarters in expanse. In the females 

 the wings have a greenish hue. 



BISTORT. [POLYGON UM.] 



BITTKH -BLAIN. | VAXI.KI.LIA.] 



BITTKK-CRKSS. [CARDAMINE.] 



BITTKH STAR, a name given to Magnesian Limestone. [DOLOMITE.] 



BITTKK SWKKT. [SoLANUM.] 



BITTER-WOOD. [XYLOPIA.] 



BITTERN, Bolaurue (Brisson), a genus of Birds belonging to the 

 family of Herons, or A rdeldrr. The following are the characters 

 which principally distinguish the Bitterns from the rest of the 

 family : Bill strong, about as long as the head, compressed, and 

 higher than it is broad ; mandibles equal in length, the upper being 

 rather the dec] >r.-t. ami .slightly curved from the base to the point ; 

 edges of both mandibles somewhat incurved, very sharp, and finely 

 serrated toward the point Legs, as compared with those of others 

 of the family, rather short Neck also comparatively short, covered 

 on its sides and front with long loose feathers which con be erected at 

 pleasure, and on the back (of the neck) with down, the long loose 

 feathers of the side meeting behind, and covering the downy part in 

 certain attitudes, as, for example, when the bird passes through the 

 reeds and rushes. 



The Bitterns comprehended under the Prince of Canino's subgenus 

 Jiiitiniriu ore widely diffused, but being solitary birds, haunting wooded 

 swamps or reedy marshes, where they generally lie hid all day, and 

 coming forth to feed at night, they are seldom wen. There ore several 

 species of this subgenus, and of these the Night Heron or Qua- 

 Bird (A rdea Nycticorax, Linnaeus, Kycticorax Eurojxfut, Stephens) is 

 found both in the Old and New World. [NYCTICOKAV | 



As an example of the subgenus, the Common Bittern or Bittour 

 (Hiitauru* Sttllaru, Steph., Ardra Stellarii, Linn., Uccello I^epre and 

 Trombutto of the Italians, Rohrtrommel of the Germans, and : 

 of the French) tnay be taken. The provincial English names of Miiv- 

 Drum, Bull of the Hog, &c., will occur to many of oui renders as Wing 

 indicative, in common with some of the foreign ones, of the bellowing 

 or drumming noise for which the bird is so famous. This deep note 

 of the ' hollow-sounding bittern ' is exerted on the ground at the 

 breeding season, about I r March. As the day declim - hf 



leaves his haunt, and rising spirally soars to a great height in tho 

 twilight. Willughby says that it performs this Uut-iiii-ntiiu-d f-at. in 

 the autumn, "making a singular kind of noise nothing like to 

 lowing." Bewick says that it soars as above described when it changes 

 its haunts. Ordinarily it flies heavily. lik<> the heron, nttaring from 

 time to time a resounding cry, not bellowing; and then WBtngtty, 

 who well describes the bellowing noise of the breeding-season, 

 supposes it to be the night-raven, at whose ' deadly voice ' the super- 

 Mitious wayfarer of the night turned pale an.l tr.-mliltti. "This, 

 without .loulit." writ.'* Willughliy, "is that liird our common people 

 call the night ravi-n, mul have such a dread of, imagining its cry 

 portends no less than their death or the death of some of their near 

 us; for it flies in the night, answers thi-ir . 1.-. notifm of Wing 

 like a flagging collar, and hath such a kind of hooping cry as they 

 talk of." Others, with much reason, consider the Qua-Bird above 

 mentioned (which utters a loud and most disagreeable n<>is>- while on 

 the wing, conveying the idea of the agonies of a person attempting to 

 . to be the tnie night i 



The food of the Bittern consists for the most part, an might W 

 suspected from it* haunts, of aquatic animals. Pennant says that 



