402 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



black, very distant, turned sideways and upwards ; the 

 height at the shoulder is about five feet, and at the croup 

 four ; length from nose to tail eight feet : but these di- 

 mensions must be considerably increased in some indi- 

 viduals, being reported sometimes to weigh sixteen hundred 

 and even two thousand pounds- The structure of the 

 animal is heavy in front, meagre and weak behind ; the 

 body is long, having fifteen pair of ribs and only four cocci- 

 gian vertebras ; the eyes round and dark ; the chaffron short ; 

 the forehead broad, and the muzzle wide. Upon the sum- 

 mit of the head there is a vast quantity of long woolly hair, 

 hanging over the face, ears, and horns ; the neck is a little 

 arched, and the withers are greatly elevated ; upon the face 

 the hair is rather curled, but on the cheeks, throat, neck, 

 shoulders, breast, and upper arms, very long ; the back, 

 flanks, croup, thighs, and legs covered with close short 

 hair; the tail, about eighteen inches long, is terminated by 

 a long tuft of coarse hair : the colour in winter is a 

 purplish brown-black, turning rusty by the effects of the 

 sun and weather, so as to become light-brown in summer. 

 The female is smaller, the horns still less, and the quantity 

 of hair on the anterior parts much smaller. 



These animals are in the habit of standing with the 

 feet much more under them than domestic cattle, and 

 then they appear as if their body was shorter. They reside 

 in winter as much as possible in the woods of temperate 

 North America, ascending the mountains and penetrating 

 into New Mexico. Towards the summer they migrate 

 northwards, and in their passage both in spring and autumn, 

 occasionally form herds of several thousand. They are not 

 naturally dangerous, but irritable ; we have seen them leap 

 over fences four feet high, and defend themselves against 

 bull-dogs with much spirit and more activity than the Do- 

 mestic Bull : they turn with great quickness, and being 

 covered by their shaggy hair, dogs seldom seize them 



