NATURAL HISTORY. 



170 



&quot; In time the savage bull doth bear the yoke.&quot; SHAKSPERH. 



are of comparatively little use ; and though the ears may be 

 of service, in enabling them to avoid hostile animals and find 

 friendly ones, they can be of no use in guiding a grazing animal to 

 its food. Hence, the sense upon which they have chiefly to depend 

 for their subsistence is that of smell ; and, as the scent of their 

 food comes in the air, and is not on the surface of the ground, 

 they require the nose elevated while they are ranging the jungles. 

 In doing this, the horns act as powerful auxiliaries, as their 

 weight assists in balancing the weight of the head when the line 

 of the face is carried in an horizontal position. 



529. The horns of buffaloes are of use to them in another way. These animals 



change their pastures by crossing 

 rivers which flood when the rain? 

 fall on the mountains, and whei. 

 it is dry there they run low. The 

 animals float along apparently at 

 their ease, till they arrive at those 

 places which suit their habits. 

 The manner in which they carry 

 their heads in swimming is shown 

 in the accompanying engraving ; 

 from which it is obvious that they 

 use the weight of their horns as a 

 lever to elevate their eyes and 

 nostrils. 



530. Why is the bison able to use his horns with more effect 

 than the ox ? 



Because in this animal the horns are so situated that when its 

 neck is brought into that position which has its greatest strength, 

 the horn appears on the anterior and lateral part of the convex 

 skull as on the crown of an arch, and the axis of the whole body 

 passes between the two horns, and parallel to the direction of them,, 

 so that the animal can deliver its whole momentum from a rush or 

 bound either upon both horns, or upon one of them, with full 

 ffect, and without injury to itself. 



