130 HABITS AND INSTINCTS OF A3UMALS. CHAP. V. 



servation particularly varied. At the head of this 

 division stand the ruminating animals, which include 

 the oxen (Bomdcz), the antelopes (Antelopidee), and the 

 rtags (Cermdce). Here we trace the same provident 

 2are of Nature, but manifested in a totally different way. 

 In addition to great swiftness, as a means of avoiding 

 langer, these animals have the means of repelling it 

 vhen at hand. Their heads are furnished with strong 

 )ointed horns, by which they can not only rebut their 

 Adversary, and keep him at bay, but even toss him in 

 he air, and pierce him to death. The power of the 

 mil and of the cow is well known, even in the domes- 

 icated races ; how much more formidable, therefore, are 

 hese animals in a wild state ! The white Scotch Urus, 

 ilthough living in a half-domesticated state in some of 

 the northern parks, is on this account so dreaded, that 

 accidents are perpetually happening to the keepers, and 

 few choose to run the risk, by possessing such danger- 

 ous animals, of hazarding human life. The buffalo of 

 the Cape of Good Hope is as dangerous an animal to 

 meet with, in its native forests, as either the lion or the 

 tiger. The long, twisted, and pointed horns of the 

 Damalis orcas and carina (H. Smith), the eland of 

 the Dutch colonists, are sufficient to pierce through 

 the body of a man by one thrust of their powerful pos- 

 sessors. The bisons and the buffaloes are all dangerous ; 

 and even the horns of the goat can inflict severe 

 wounds. We may hazard the assertion, as a general 

 observation, that the antelopes, in proportion to the 

 smallness of their horn, seem endowed with an addi- 

 tional degree of speed. The roebuck (Capreolus 

 Europceus)' and the chamois are proofs of this;, the 

 horns of both are but ill calculated for vigorous de- 

 fence, yet both these animals are proverbial for their 

 swiftness ; while the latter is so celebrated for its agility 

 in climbing the most inaccessible precipices, that it far 

 exceeds, in this respect, even the ibex. It is singular 

 that among ruminating animals we often find that one 

 sex is provided with horns, and the other not. To 



