ANIMALS. 5Jj 



general, furnished with a fine lustrous soft hair, more beautiful 

 than that of our own breed ; their humj) is also of different 

 sizes, in some weighing from forty to fifty pounds, in others 

 less ; it is not, however, to be considered as a part necessarily 



wooded localities to the plain or the low lands, live in small troops, and hava 

 a groaning voice. The Gaw.Kotiah of the Persians is probably tliis aiiimaL 



The Gaur. (B. Gaurus.j The Gaur is a species of bison, which, from al 

 accounts, appears to be among the largest now living; and although in la. 

 dian phraseoligy th>; word buffalo his been used, no doubt can exist 

 respecting its affinity to the bison : indeed the gaur may be no other than 

 the true bison, though from certain testimonies we are inclined to regard it 

 as ?n intermediate species. 



The head of the gaur exhibits nearly all the characters of the domestic 

 ox, but the forehead is more arched and raised ; the horns, strong and rough, 

 are not bent back as in the buffalo ; the top of the forehead is covered with 

 white woolly hair ; the rest of the hair is smooth, close, and shining, of a 

 dark. broivn colour, almost black; the eyes are smaller than in the ox; and 

 pale blue; the muscles of the legs and thighs very prominent and strong. 

 But the most remarkable character of the gaur, that which should distinguish 

 it from all other ruminants, consists in a series of spinous processes along 

 the back, beginning at the last vertebrae of the neck, shortening gradually till 

 they are lost half way Ao\\ n the spine ; the foremost are at least six inches 

 higher than the ridge of the back. These gaurs live in families of ten or 

 twenty, graze on the meadows, and feed on leaves and buds of trees ; the 

 female bears a twelveminith, and calves in August. Buff.iloes fear their pre- 

 sence, and never invade their localities. Although the existence of this ani. 

 mal is more questionable in Africa, yet Pliny's .Ethiopian bull with blue 

 eyes might refer to this species, and even the white variety, as large as a 

 camel, known in Madagascar by the name of Bouri, may be the same. 



The American Bison. {Bos Americiinus.) This species is commonly 

 known by the name of Buffalo, and was long confounded with the bison of 

 Europe, though it is anatomically more remote from it, than the yak, not- 

 withstanding the great external similarity between them. This species is 

 distinguished by small horns, round, lateral, black, very distant, turned side, 

 ways and upwards; theheightattheshoulderisabout five feet, and at the croup 

 four; length from nose to tail eight feet : but these dimensions must be con, 

 siderably increased in some individuals, being reported sometimes to weigh 

 sixteen hundred and even two thousand pounds- I'he structure of the ani- 

 mal is heavy in front, meagre and weak behind ; the body is long, having fif. 

 leen pair of ribs and only four coccigian vertebrae ; the eyes round and dark ; 

 the chaftron short ; the forehead broad, and the muzzle wide. Upon the 

 Bummitof the head there is a vast quantity of long woolly hair, hanging over 

 the face, ears, and horns ; the neck is a little arched, and the withers are 

 greatly elevated ; upon the face the hair is rather curled, but on the cheeks, 

 throat, neck, shoulders, breast, and upper arms, very long; the back, flanks, 

 croup, tliifjhs, and legs covered with close short hair ; the tail, about eighteen 

 inches long, is terminated by a long tuft of coarse hair: the ('olour in winter 

 is a purplish brown-black, turni'ig rubty by the etfects of the sun and wea- 

 ther, so as to become lii;ht.bro vn in summer. 'J'he female is smaller, tha 

 horns still less, and the quantity of hair on the anterior parts much smaller. 



