298 UNGULATA. 



manner. In these scenes, the males are continually 

 following the females, and the whole mass are in constant 

 motion ; and all bellowing (or ' roaring ') in deep and 

 hollow sounds; which, mingled altogether, appear, at 

 the distance of a mile or two, like the sound of distant 

 thunder. 



" During the season, whilst they are congregated 

 together in these dense and confused masses, the 

 remainder of the country around for many miles 

 becomes entirely vacated ; and the traveller may spend 

 many a toilsome day and many a hungry night, without 

 being cheered by the sight of one ; whilst, if he retraces 

 his steps a few weeks after, he will find them dispersed, 

 and grazing quietly in little families and flocks, and 

 equally stocking the whole country. ' A bull in his. 

 wallow,' is a frequent saying in this country ; and has a 

 very significant meaning with those who have ever seen 

 a Buffalo bull performing ablution, or rather endeav- 

 ouring to cool his heated sides, by tumbling about in a 

 mud -puddle. 



"In the heat of summer, these huge animals, which 

 no doubt suffer very much with the great profusion of 

 their long and shaggy hair or fur, often graze on the low 

 grounds of the prairies, where there is a little stagnant 

 water lying amongst the grass, and the ground under- 

 neath, being saturated with it, is soft, into which the 

 enormous bull, lowered down upon one knee, will 

 plunge his horns, and at last his head, driving up the 

 earth, and soon making an excavation in the ground, into 

 which the water filters from amongst the grass, forming 

 for him in a few moments a cool and comfortable bath, 

 into which he plunges like a hog in his mire." 



Washington Irving, in his " Astoria " (Missouri 

 River), p. 96, narrates : 



