THE BUFFALO. 193 



the plains, and cannot be induced to leave its forest home. 

 The latter, according to Hind, is not uncommon north of 

 the Saskatchewan region; but in the United States it is 

 confined to the wooded mountainous regions of Montana, 

 Dakota, Colorado, and Idaho. It differs from its lowland 

 congener in being much heavier in body, having shorter 

 and more robust legs, a soft and uncurled mane, a softer 

 and finer pelage, and having the bump of cautiousness 

 more largely developed, so that it is not unlike the Lithu- 

 anian aurochs. It can pick its way .amidst crags and 

 chasms with an agility worthy of a goat, and with much 

 greater ease than one would give it credit for. Owing 

 to the wild and sometimes inaccessible character of its 

 haunts, it is not hunted much, so that little is known of its 

 habits ; but they do not vary much, in all probability, from 

 those of its better known kindred, the difference being such 

 as a person would expect to find between animals whose 

 haunts are so totally distinct. 



An adult male of the common species is about six feet 

 high at the fore-shoulders; measures from eight to eight 

 and a half feet in length ; the horns are between twelve 

 and thirteen inches in length, and the tail about twenty; 

 and when the animal is in good condition it frequently 

 weighs two thousand pounds, but the ordinary weight is 

 between twelve and sixteen hundred pounds. Large and 

 heavy as it is, it cannot compare with the prehistoric species 

 of the West; for, judging from the fossil remains found, 

 that must have been seven or eight times its size, and, if 

 everything was in proportion, must have weighed several 

 thousand pounds. 



If Nimrods chased it, they must have been giants in- 

 deed, and worthy contemporaries of the mastodons, gigan- 

 tic elephants, turtles, sloths, and other huge animals that 

 roamed over the earth in the misty past. 



The modern bison would be a good example to prove 

 that appearances are often deceiving; for the novice, on 

 gazing at its ponderous proportions, its large head covered 

 with thick, matted hair, its shaggy mane a foot long, its 



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