THE AMERICAN BISON. 



517 



same time being dark and tough, and far inferior to that of 

 any other North American ruminant. 



The British Museum contains a noble specimen of the musk- 

 ox, which was obtained during one of Captain Parry's Polar 

 expeditions. 



THE AMERICAN BISON.* (Bison Americanus.) 



This animal is met with in nearly the whole of the uninhabited 

 parts of North America, from Hudson's Bay to Louisiana, and 

 the frontiers of Mexico. 



It is larger and more bulky than an ox, its ordinary weight 

 being one ton. Its colour is in general of a deep blackish 

 brown, but darker on the hinder parts, black on the head, and 

 lighter about the neck and shoulders 5 the head is very large j 



* The Americans term this animal buffalo, and the words bison and buffalo 

 have been as improperly applied to the gaour (Bison gaour}, and to the Asseel 

 gayal (Bosfron(alis, Lambert), called also gyall, or jungle-ox, both natives of 

 India. The gaour is a native of the hills to the north-east of the province of 

 Chittagong, in Bengal. The United Service Museum, in London, contains a 

 skull of the animal, said to have been brought from the south of China. 



