MAMMALIA ORDER VI. UNGULA TA. 



we venture to hope, elsewhere, in inaccessible corners of the continent, 

 varies very markedly from the prairie form. There always have been wood 

 land-dwelling members of the species. Bison were indigenous to the tract 

 of country known as the Yellowstone Park, when it was proclaimed a 

 national reserve. The park is admirably adapted for a sanctuary. Embracing 

 an area of some 3300 square miles, and forming, roughly speaking, an oblong 

 of about 70 miles by 50, not less than 84 per cent, of the whole is forest-clad 

 mountain, valley, and plateau. The central portion forms a plateau varying 

 from 7000 to 8500 feet in elevation, and averaging 8000 feet. Here the 

 indigenous bison finds comparative security, and is steadily increasing in 

 numbers. In 1884 the bison population of the Yellowstone Park was 

 estimated at 200 ; in the winter of 1891-92 a snow-shoe party, exploring for 

 the purpose, found various small herds, which by actual count gave nearly 

 300 animals, each herd containing a proportion of well-grown calves." ' 



Somewhat intermediate between the bison and the true oxen is the 

 Tibetan yak (B. grunniens), so invaluable to the inhabitants of the highlands 

 of the inner Himalaya as a means of transport across those arid and inhos- 

 pitable regions. While the horns are not unlike those of the bison in form 

 and position, and the general conformation of the skull is also similar in the 

 two groups, the yak has the long hair disposed as a fringe from the fore legs 

 along the flanks to the hind limbs, the tail being also invested with similar 

 elongated hairs from root to tip. The ribs are fourteen in number ; and 

 the colour of the wild race is uniformly blackish-brown, although many of 

 the hybrid domestic breeds are more or less variegated with white. The 

 male lacks the distinct dewlap characteristic of almost all the other oxen. 

 Another peculiarity of the yak is to be found in the strange grunting cry 

 from which its scientific name is taken. 



Three species of oxen confined to the Oriental countries constitute what is 

 termed the Bibovine group. These are characterised, like the true oxen, by 

 possessing only thirteen pairs of ribs, but are peculiar in having a more or less 

 well-marked ridge running down the anterior half of the back, produced by 

 the unusual height of the spines of the vertebrae in that region. The horns, 

 which occupy the highest portion of the skull, are somewhat flattened, more 

 especially at the base, and after inclining outwards for some distance are 

 then directed upwards. The tail is relatively short, not reaching below the 

 hocks ; the lower portions of the legs are white, and the general colour of 

 the males is blackish, and those of the females either amber or blackish- 

 brown. The largest and handsomest of the three species is the well-known 

 gaur (B. gaums) the bison of Indian sportsmen which inhabits hilly 

 forests throughout India, and is also found in the Malay peninsula. The 

 most characteristic feature of this splendid animal, which attains a height of 

 fully six feet at the withers, is the large, convex, and forwardly-curving 

 crest between the bases of the horns, communicating a concave profile to 

 the forehead. The ridge on the back is very strongly developed, and stops 

 very sharply with a sudden step-like descent ; and the colour of the female 

 is nearly similar to that of the male. As in the other members of the group, 

 the thick coat of hair is short, fine, and remarkably sleek. From thio 

 species the gayal, or mithan (B. frontalis), differs by the straight line formed 

 by the ridge of the skull between the widely-sundered horns, and the conse- 

 quently straight profile of the forehead. The horns differ from those of tho 

 gaur in being shorter, rounder, and less curved, their tips having no distinct 

 inward curvature, while their colour is uniformly black, instead of being 



