46 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 
other hand, keeps fat, and even in spring fat may be found 
along the vertebrz and lower portion of the carcass an inch 
thick. ‘With the advent of the first mild weather, even be- 
fore the snow has disappeared, they commence to shed their 
rough coat, first from between the fore-legs, then the prom- 
inent parts of the body, and later from the forelimbs and 
hump. This long hair—or, as it is frequently called, wool 
—comes off in patches, trees and rocks being used to rub 
A 
\ ity. 
BUFFALO IN SPRING COAT. 
against; the result is, that by March a more ragged, tatter- 
ed, weather-beaten creature can scarcely be imagined. The 
horns of both bull and cow are about the same length; 
those of the former are thick, blunt, and clumsy, those of 
the latter sharp, slim, and trim-looking. Both sexes much 
resemble each other; at the same time the figure of the fe- 
male is more delicately formed, and not within a couple of 
hands as high at the shoulder, nor is she clothed with such a 
quantity of the rough, coarse covering over the fore-quarters. 
