THE ZUBR. 521 



the proportion of four-fifths, and with numerous deciduous 

 trees in that of one-fifth. It is supposed that in its present 

 circumscribed range, it has considerably degenerated in size, 

 as has been the case with all those herbivorous animals whose 

 range has been lessened by agricultural encroachments, and 

 which are no longer free from control in the choice of locality 

 and pasture. 



It is recorded that in 1595, a zubr, thirteen feet long and 

 seven feet high, was killed near Friedsburg - } and that the 

 largest of eight specimens killed by Count Sigismundus' hunting 

 party, in 1612, weighed seventeen hundred and seventy pounds. 

 Herberstein says, that three stout men could sit between the 

 horns of a zubr which was found about the beginning of the 

 sixteenth century.* Dr. Weissenborn says, that in the beginning 

 of the seventeenth century some Polish specimens weighed 

 eighteen hundred pounds 5 and he supposes that in the more 

 remote ages the full-grown bulls weighed two thousand pounds 

 or more, and that their horns encompassed from seven to eight 

 feet. In 1752, fifty were killed in the forest of Bialowicza, by 

 Augustus III. of Poland, and one of them weighed fourteen 

 hundred and fifty pounds, as is testified on a monument erected 

 on the spot where it was slain. A specimen found in Pallas's 

 time was six feet high at the withers. In the present times, 

 however, the oldest are never more than seven and a half feet 

 (French measure) in length and five feet in height; and the 

 largest only weigh seven hundred pounds. The six-years-old 

 bull lately placed in the Wilna Museum, measured only six 

 feet eleven and a half French inches, from the crown of the head 

 to the base of the tail j its height at the crupper was four feet 

 four and a half inches, and at the withers four feet nine inches. 



The upper part and sides of the head, as well as the withers, 

 and shoulders, are covered with long, rough hairs, which form 

 a sort of mane on the upper part of the neck, while from the 

 lower part of the neck to the chest it hangs like a long beard -, 

 the whole trunk and the legs down to the knees, are covered 

 * Rerum Muscoviiicarum Commentarii (Basil, 1556). 



