34 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



scarcely fit for food. The cow, on the other hand, 

 keeps fat, and even in spring fat may be found along 

 the vertebrae and lower portion of the carcass an inch 

 thick. With the advent of the first mild weather, even 

 before the snow has disappeared, they commence to 

 shed their rough coat, first from between the fore legs, 

 then the prominent parts of the bod} r , and later from 

 the fore limbs and hump. This long hair or, as it 

 is frequently called, wool comes off in patches, trees 

 and rocks being used to rub against ; the result is, 

 that by March a more ragged, tattered, weather- 

 beaten creature can scarcely be imagined. The horns 

 of both bull and cow are about the same length ; 

 those of the former are thick, blunt, and clumsy, 

 those of the latter sharp, slim, and trim-looking. 

 Both sexes much resemble each other; at the same 

 time the figure of the female is more delicately 

 formed, and not within a couple of hands as high at 

 the shoulder, nor is she clothed with such a quantity 

 of the rough, coarse covering over the fore -quarters. 



When a herd of buffalo are alarmed by the ap- 

 proach of the hunter, the cows, in a few seconds, head 

 the retreating herd, closely followed by the yearlings 

 and calves, while the lumbering old bulls, from inca- 

 pacity, drop in the rear. When not disturbed, in lying 

 down or rising, they exactly resemble others of the Bos 

 family ; but if they be come upon unawares by an object 

 of fear, the velocity with which they gain their legs and 

 break into a gallop is truly surprising. They are ex- 

 cellent swimmers, and have no hesitation to enter 

 water; nevertheless, annually, great numbers are 

 drowned ; but this generally occurs in spring, when 

 the broken ice is clearing out of the streams. 



