38 THE AMERICAN BISONS. 



are rather more incurved at the tips, where they are rarely abraded as in the 

 males. The hoofs are short and broad, those of the fore feet abruptly 

 rounded at the end ; those of the hind feet are much narrower and more 

 pointed. The muffle is broad and naked, having much the same form as in the 

 domestic ox. The short tail has the long hairs restricted to a tuft at the end. 



In winter the head, neck, legs, tail, and whole under parts, are blackish- 

 brown ; the upper surface of the body lighter. The color above becomes 

 gradually lighter towards spring; the new short hair in autumn is soft dark 

 umber or liver-brown. In very old individuals the long woolly hair over the 

 shoulders bleaches to a light yellowish-brown. Young animals are generally 

 wholly dark brown, darkest about the head, on the lower surface of the 

 body, and on the limbs. The young calf is at first nearly uniform light 

 chestnut-brown, or yellowish-brown, with scattered darker hairs on the belly, 

 where arc also occasionally small patches of wdiite. Toward autumn the 

 light yellowish color is replaced by the darker brown that characterizes the 

 older animals. After the first few months the younger animals are darker 

 than they are later in life, at middle-age the coat, especially over the 

 shoulders, becoming lighter and presenting a bleached or faded appearance, 

 which increases with age. The horns, hoofs, and muffle are black, the hoofs 

 being sometimes edged or striped with whitish. There are no important 

 sexual differences in color. 



The woolly hair over the shoulders is much longer and more shaggy than 

 elsewhere on the body; it increases in length on the neck above, gradually 

 losing its woolly character, and between the horns attains a length of ten to 

 fourteen inches, nearly concealing tin' ears and the bases of the horns, and 

 often partly covers the eyes. The long hair advances also on the face, where 

 it decreases in length and becomes more woolly again, extending far forward 

 in .1 pointed area nearly to the nose. The chin and throat are also covered 

 with long hair, which under the chin forms ao immense beard, eight or ten 

 inches to a foot or more in length. Thick masses of longhair also arise from 



the inner and posterior surfaces of the upper pari of the fore legs, when 



the hair often attains a length of six or eight inches. A strip of long hail 

 also extends along the cre8( of the back nearly to the tail. The tail is cov- 

 ered with only short soli hair till near the tip. from which arises a tuft of 



coarse long hair twelve to eighteen inches in length. The hinder and 



lower portions of the body ami legs are covered with short soft woolly hair. 

 This is moulted earlv in spring, alter which for a few weeks the hinder 



