286 CASSELL'S POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY. 



sagacity in defending themselves against the attacks of their fierce persecutors, he adds, on tlie 

 authority of Du Pratz : " When they scent the approach of a drove of these ravenous creatures, the 

 herd flings itself into the form of a circle ; the weakest keep in the middle, the strongest are ranged 

 on the outside, presenting to the enemy an impenetrable front of horns ; should they be taken by 

 surprise, and have recourse to flight, numbers of the fattest or the weakest are sure to perish." Sir 

 John Richardson, however, speaking of the numerous wolves on the sandy plains, which, lying to the 

 eastward of the Rocky Mountains, extend from the sources of the Peace and Saskatchewan rivers 

 towards the Missouri, says that there bands of them hang on the skirts of the buffalo herds, and prey 

 on the sick and straggling calves, but that they do not, under ordinary circumstances, venture to attack 

 the full-grown animal. As a proof of this, he adds, that the hunters informed him that they often saw 

 wolves walking through a herd of bulls without exciting the least alarm, and that the marksmen, 

 when they crawl towards a bison for the purpose of shooting it, occasionally wear a cap with two ears 

 in imitation of the head of a wolf, knowing from experience that they will be suffered to approach 

 nearer in that guise. 



1NIIIAXS, DISGUISED AS WOLVES, Al'l'KOACHlMi A HKK1J OK BISONS. 



Nor are the benefits derived from the bison restricted to the flesh and the tallow. Sir John 

 Richardson states that the wool has been manufactured in England, into a remarkably fine and 

 beautiful cloth ; and that, in the colony of Osnaboyna, in the Red River, a warm and durable 

 coarse cloth is formed from it. According to Catesby, the hide, which is too heavy for the strongest 

 man to lift from the ground, is very valuable, and used for a variety of purposes. He says that the 

 Indians make their moccasins of it, but that, from its w'eight, it is not often used for clothing. 

 Purchas relates that, in old times, the best targets were made of it. The horns of the bison are 

 made into powder flasks. A fine specimen of the bison, recently shot in the prairies by the Hon. 

 Grantley Berkley, may be seen in the window of the Field office, in the Strand. 



THE BUFFALO.* 



THE following are the characteristics of this animal : Forehead convex, rounded ; horns, large, 

 flattened at the base, black on the plane of the face,, bent down and recurved at the tip ; ears quite 

 half the length of the head, slightly ciliated ; .fur rough, irregular, bristly, often very far apart, on the 

 face before the eyes two-rowed. 



Mr. Hodgson, who has given us much information as to the Indian buffaloes, says : " The bhainsa, 

 or tame buffalo, is universal in India. The arna, or wild buffalo, inhabits the margins, rather than 

 * Bos Buffalu?. B. bubalus. Linnams. Children : Buffle, French ; and Bttffel, German. 



