HUNTING THE BISON. 87 



The American male bison, when at its full size, is said to weigh 

 2000 Ibs., though 12 or 14 cwt, is considered a good weight in the 

 fur countries. Dr. Richardson gives eight feet and a half as its 

 length, exclusive of the tail, which is twenty inches, and upwards 

 of six feet as its height at the fore-quarters. The head is very 

 large, and carried low; the eyes are small, black, and piercing; 

 the horns are short, small, sharp, set far apart, for the forehead is 

 very broad, and directed outwards and backwards, so as to be nearly 

 erect, with a slight curve towards the outward pointing tips. Tho 

 hump is not a mere lump of fatty secretion, like that of the zebu, 

 but consists exclusive of a deposite of fat, which varies much in 

 quantity, of the strong muscles attached to the highly-developed 

 spinous processes of the last cervical and first dorsal vertebrae, 

 forming fit machinery for the support and movement of the enormous 

 head. The chest is broad, and the legs are strong ; the hind parts 

 are narrow, and liave a comparatively weak appearance. The 

 tail is clothed with short fur-like hair, with a long, straight, coarse, 

 blackish -brown tuft at the end. In winter the whole body is 

 covered with long shagged hair, which in summer falls off, leaving 

 the blackish wrinkled skin exposed, except on the forehead, hump, 

 fore-quarters, under-jaw, and throat, where the hair is very long 

 and shaggy, and mixed with much wool Catesby observes that 

 on the forehead of a bull the hair is a foot long, thick and frizzled, 

 and of a dusky black color, that the length of this hair, hanging 

 over their eyes, impedes their flight, and is frequently the cause 

 of their destruction, but this obstruction of sight is in some measure 

 supplied by their good noses, which are no small safeguard to them. 

 A bull, says he, in summer, with his body bare and his head 

 mufHod with long hair, makes a very formidable appearance. In 

 summer, the general color of the hair is between dark-umber and 

 liver-brown, and lustrous. The tips of the hair, as it lengthens in 

 winter, are paler, and before it is shed in summer much of it be- 

 comes of a pale, dull, yellowish-brown. In the female the head 

 is smaller, and the hair on the foreparts is not so long as it is in the 

 male. 



Congregating in vast herds, these animals are said to cover the 



