ORDER RUMINANTIA. 



401 



carries and villagers are so much afraid of these animals, 

 that they cannot be prevailed on to go near them, or to en- 

 deavour to catch any of their young. It is a prevailing 

 opinion in the country, that if they are in the least mo- 

 lested, they will attack the persons disturbing them, and 

 never quit them until they are destroyed, and should they 

 get into a tree, they will remain near it for many days." 



We have received similar accounts from other British 

 sportsmen, with the addition that they are more hairy in 

 front than on the back, and that the shoulders are greatly 

 elevated. The tone of colour is said to vary with the seasons, 

 which accords pretty well with other Bisons, who are almost 

 black in winter and sun-burnt to rufous in summer. In 

 the mountainous districts where they reside, there are not 

 at present stations of troops with elephants at their com- 

 mand sufficiently near to go in search of them and clear the 

 jungle; yet, as their residence is well known at Norun- 

 gabad, their description may be expected at no great dis- 

 tance of time. Although the existence of this animal is 

 more questionable in Africa, yet Pliny's ^Ethiopian Bull 

 with blue eyes* might refer to this species, and even the 

 white variety as large as a camel, known in Madagascar 

 by the name of Bouri, be the same. 



The American Bison. (Bos Americanus.) This species 

 is commonly known by the name of Buffalo, and was long 

 confounded with the Bison of Europe, though it is anato- 

 mically more remote from it, than the Yak, notwith- 

 standing the great external similarity between them. This 

 species is distinguished by small horns, round, lateral, 



* Sed atrocessimos habet (^Ethiopia) tauros silvestres majores 

 agrestibus velocitate ante omnes, colore fulvos oculis cceruleis 

 pilo in contrarium verso ; rictu ad awes dehiscente, juxta cornua 

 mobilia, tergori duritia silicis, omne respuens vulnus, feras omnes 

 venantur; ipsi non aliter quam foveis ; capti, feritate semper in- 

 tereunt. — Plin. 1. viii. c. 21. 



