302 HOOFED ANIMALS 



mountain valleys, which the pure Yak would find to be 

 quite intolerable. This, however, applies not to Tibet so 

 much as the North-western Himalaya for example, the 

 route between Leh and Kashmir. 



Opinions differ concerning the flesh of an old Yak, but 

 by common consent the meat of a young animal is 

 richer than ordinary veal. The milk is often dried and 

 powdered ; the hair is spun into a variety of fabrics ; and 

 in the most desolate regions Yak dung and bones are the 

 only available fuel. 



BISONS. 



The Bisons form a very distinct group of the Oxen 

 family. Their distinguishing features are their massive 

 fronts, the withers being much higher than the hind- 

 quarters, the general effect being heightened by the thicker 

 covering of hair on the head, shoulders, and fore legs. 



EUROPEAN BISON (Bos europczus). 

 Coloured Plate XIX. Fig. i. 



The European Bison is very often improperly called the 

 Aurochs. It resembles a brown, heavily-fronted, stout- 

 limbed Ox. It is usually fierce and dangerous, and as the 

 animal is ten feet in length, it is an opponent not to be 

 lightly encountered. It generally feeds in the morning and 

 evening, chiefly eating leaves, twigs, and bark. The cows 

 calve only once in about three years. It is said that a bull 

 Bison will maintain its own against at least four hungry 

 wolves. 



The Bison was once common on the Continent. Fossil 

 remains are found in England, and indicate that the animal 

 was once much larger than the few of the species that are 

 now in existence. There are only a few wild specimens in 

 the Caucasus, and a fair-sized herd is specially preserved in 

 Lithuania. In this region, in 1752, the King of Poland in 

 a great hunt killed as many as sixty in a day. When the 

 animals were threatened with extinction, steps were taken 



