The Zoology of North American Big Game 



Among the many questions asked of the natur- 

 alist by an inquiring public, few come up more per- 

 sistently than "What is the difference between a 

 bison and a buffalo; and which is the American 

 animal?" 



The interest which so many people find in ques- 

 tions such as this must serve as a justification for 

 the present paper, which proposes no more than 

 to put into concise form what is known of the 

 zoological relations of the animals which come 

 within the special interest of the Boone and 

 Crockett Club. In doing this, conclusions must, 

 as a rule, be stated with few of the facts upon 

 which they rest, for to give more than the plainest 

 of these would be to far outrun the possible limits 

 of space, and would furthermore lead into techni- 

 cal details which to most readers are obscure and 

 wearisome. 



Anyone who consults Dr. Johnson's famous dic- 

 tionary will be illuminated by the definition of 

 camelopard: "An Abyssinian animal taller than an 



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