JISG HISTORY OF 



belonging to the animal ; and probably it might be cut away 

 without much injury : it resembles a gristly fat ; and, as I am 

 assured, cuts and tastes somewhat like a dressed udder. The 

 bisons of Malabar, Abyssinia, and Madagascar, are of the great 



These animals are in tlie liabit of standing with the feet mueh more under 

 them than domestic cattle, and then thuy appear as if their body was shorter. 

 Tliey reside in winter as much as possible in the woods of temperate 

 North America, ascending the mountains and penetrating into New Mexico. 

 'Towards the summer they migrate northwards, and in their passage both in 

 spring and autumn, occasionally form herds of several thousands. They are 

 not naturally dangerous, but irritable ; we have seen them leap over fences 

 four feet high, and defend themselves against the bull-dogs with much spirit 

 and more activity than the domestic bull : they turn with great quickness, 

 and being covered by their shaggy hair, dogs seldom seize them firmly. 

 When a dug thus snaps into the hair, they toss him over the he:id in an in- 

 stant; and if at length they are, what is termed, pinned by the nose, they 

 spread the forelegs, bring the hind feet forward, till they tread the dog under 

 them, and then tear the head loose, regardle.ss of the wound they thus inflict 

 upon themselves, provided their enemy be crushed by their leet. They de- 

 fend themselves against troops of wolves by forming a circle with the strong- 

 est outside ; a practice which is common to most gregarious ruminants of the 

 northern hemisphere. 



About the middle of June the rutting season commences with the most 

 determined battles among the males : they are then not to be approached 

 with safety. Young animals acquire a certain temporary docility, and might 

 be used to the plough ; but the elevation of the shoulders, and their weakness 

 aliont the loins, "ill never allow such profitable use to be made of them as 

 of the domestic ox. The females besides do not retain their milk long, yield 

 a smaller quantity, and it is said to smell musky : they are also very restless, 

 leaping the fences and enticing the other cattle tostray by following tliem, and 

 damage the corn-fields. We have seen many of these animals, but none that 

 were estimated to weigh more than eight hundred pounds, and suspect the 

 reality of such ponderous individuals as before mentioned, unless they belong 

 to a larger species, said to be found in the interior, and differing somewhat in 

 tlieir form, and much more in their size ; though it must be confessed that 

 old bulls, sometimes concealed singly in good pasture, will fatten so enor. 

 mously as to run with difficulty, and fall an easy prey. 



Formerly the species was known to the eastward of the Apalachian moun- 

 tains, but they are no longer found in the remote parts of Pennsylvania or 

 in Kentucky, and only seen beyond the Mississipi ; on the Ohio and Missouri 

 they are in great numbers. The Indians shoot them or encompass a herd 

 by filing the grass, when a number are destroyed without diflicully. In 

 the northern parts tliey drive them into a kind of staked avenues, or keddah, 

 while the snow is on the ground, and kill them from a tree in the centre of 

 the recess, and from around it: they make ch.aks, &c , of hides. Tliehuf. 

 falo dance is one of the principal ceremonies of the year among many tribes. 

 It takes place before the hunting season of the bison, and has been fully des. 

 frilicd by I'ennant. 



The Yak. {B. Poephagus.) This animal was originally noticed by Elian 

 ondiT the above name, and since described by Pallas, who preferred sis a 



