192 



UNGULATES. 



the shaggy coat of hair upon the neck, hump, and shoulders, tercninating at the 

 knees in a thick mass of luxuriant black locks, to say nothing of the dense coat of 

 finer fur on the body and hind-quarters, give to our species not only an apparent 

 height equal to that of the gaur, but a grandeur and nobility of presence which are 

 beyond all comparison among ruminants." Good horns measure from 16 to 17 



amekican bison (iV nat. size). 



inches, but a pair with a length of 20§ inches and a girth of 15 inches have been 

 recorded. 



The range of the American bison originally extended over about 

 one-third of North America. " Starting almost at tide-water on the 

 Atlantic coast," writes Mr. Homaday, " it extended westward through a vast tract 

 of dense forest, across the Alleghany Mountain system to the prairies along the 

 Mississippi, and southward to the delta of that great system. Although the great 

 plain country of the West was the natural home of the species, where it flourished 

 most abundantly, it also wandered south across Texas to the burning plains of 



Distribution. 



