394 BISON. 



old and new continent ; inhabiting woody regions, 

 and arriving at a size far larger than that of the 

 domestic or cultivated animal. In this its native 

 state of wildness, the Bison is distinguished, not 

 only hy his size, but by the superior depth and 

 shagginess of his hair, which about the head, 

 neck, and shoulders, is sometimes of such a length 

 as almost to touch the' ground : his horns are ra- 

 ther short, sharp-pointed, extremely strong, and 

 stand distant from each other at their bases, like 

 those of the common Bull. His colour is some- 

 times a dark blackish brown, and sometimes ru- 

 fous brown : his eyes large and fierce ; his limbs 

 extremely strong, and his whole aspect in the 

 highest degree savage and gloomy. 



The principal European regions where this ani- 

 mal is at present found, are the marshy forests of 

 Poland, the Carpathian mountains, and Lithuania. 

 Its chief Asiatic residence is the neighbourhood 

 of Mount Caucasus ; but it is also found in other 

 parts of the Asiatic world. 



The American Bison seems to differ in no re- 

 spect from the European, except in being more 

 shaggy, and in having a more protuberant 

 bunch or fleshy substance over the shoulders : the 

 fore parts of the body are extremely thick and 

 strong ; the hinder parts comparatively weak. 

 The colour of the American Bison is a reddish 

 brown ; and the hair, in winter, is of a woolly na- 

 ture, falling down over the eyes, head, and whole 

 fore parts of the animal. In summer it often be- 

 comes almost naked, but particularly on the hind 



