310 ANECDOTES OF ANIMALS. 



comrade, whose body was hanging in the tree quite 

 dead.' 



The Aurochs is the European Bison, and is one of 

 the largest and noblest of the genus. He stands six 

 feet high at the shoulders ; has two sorts of hair, one 

 short, soft, and woolly, and the other long, rough, and 

 covering the upper part and sides of the head, the chest, 

 neck, and shoulders, forming an enormous mane, some- 

 times a foot long. The tongue, lips, and palate have 

 a bluish tint ; the eyes are small and piercing. An odour 

 resembling both musk and violets exudes from the skin, 

 especially that part which covers the convex forehead^ 

 and which may be smelt at a distance of a hundred 

 yards. Their flesh is much esteemed. They live in 

 thickets near swamps ; come out at night to eat the 

 bark of young trees, lichens, and young shoots ; carry 

 their head low ; are never completely tcmed ; detest the 

 common bull ; and their only attachment to human 

 beings is bestowed on their keepers. They are now 

 rare. A few are found in Lithuanian Poland, but they 

 used to inhabit all the European forests. 



The American Bison, now familiarly called a Buffalo, 

 exists in vast herds in the prairies of the New World. 

 A mob of them, as a herd is called, is irresistible ; 

 destroys everything over which it passes ; numbers 

 hundreds of thousands ; and rushes like a cataract over 

 the plains, with a noise resembling that of thunder. 

 They are very dangerous animals to attack ; hence the 

 sport they afford is more exciting. For graphic pic- 

 tures of it, I would advise my readers to peruse the 

 pages of Mr. Catlin. They delight in salt springs and 

 morasses ; the bulls sometimes fight furiously with each 

 other; their greatest enemy is the grizzly bear, who 



