G4 THE AMERICAN BISONS. 



exhilarating, or gives one a stronger sense of being really amid nature's 

 untamed wilds, than, when encamped on the outskirts of a quiescent herd, to 

 be awakened on a fresh June morning by their distant bellowing, and to see 

 them, as daylight advances, quietly grazing over a vast expanse of the green 

 prairie. 



As may be well imagined, not only the movements but the habits of the 

 buffaloes, in their undisturbed daily lives, are in general not far different 

 from those of grazing herds of domestic cattle. They indulge in similar 

 gambols, and, when belligerent, in similar blustering demonstrations. 

 When approached by man they will often assume an aspect so threatening 

 that a novice at buffalo-hunting might easily be appalled by the fierce 

 demonstrations indulged in by the boastful hut cowardly old bulls. Bold 

 at first, and apparently challenging attack, the old bulls, with the head 

 lowered and the tail erect, will pace uneasily to and fro, threateningly 

 pawing the earth, or face the approaching enemy with a sullen and 

 most determined air only to take to their heels the very next moment. 

 The bulls are at all times excessively fnn<! of pawing the ground, and of 

 throwing up the earth with their horns, thrusting them into banks when 

 such are at hand, or into the hare level ground, which they accomplish by 

 lowering themselves upon one knee. To such an extent do they pursue this 

 pastime that the horns of the older bulls become very much worn and splin- 

 tered, in occasional instances the horny covering of the more exposed part 

 being worn very thin, and in rare instances entirely through to the bony core. 

 Particularly limine, also, is the satisfaction they take in rubbing themselves 

 I whatever will oppose resistance, whether it he rocks, trees, bushes, 

 or a clay-bluff; the telegraph-poles, however, erected along the railroads 

 that cross their range, afforded them especial delight as scratching-posts, 

 ami soon became as well smoothed ami covered with tufts of hair ami 

 grease from their unctuous hides as are the posts about a fanner's cattle- 

 yard. What is very unlike anything in the habits of domestic cattle, how- 

 ever, is their propensity to roll themselves on the ground, which, notwith- 

 standing their seemingly inconvenient form, they do with the greatest ease. 

 rolling over as completely as a horse, and apparently with far less exertion. 

 But their especial delighl is to roll in the mud, or in " wallowing " as h is 



termed, from which exercise they arise looking more like an animated mass 



of mud than their I'muier selves. The object of these peculiar ablutions is 

 doubtless t" cool their heated bodies and to free themselves from trouble- 



