60 : PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 
mistaken for them; but, on closer inspection, the delusion 
can not continue, for their outline of form, sheep-like move- 
ment and figure, at once correct the error. In height they 
stand from eleven and a half to twelve and a half hands, the 
males being the largest and most cumbersome in appear- 
ance. Their legs are excessively short, and gifted with 
great muscular power, while the track of their hoof is about 
the size of a two-year-old steer’s, but straighter and less 
pointed. The head is ornamented with handsome horns 
which almost unite at the base, and taper off with graceful, 
handsome sweeps to sharp points, which are generally with 
the mature animal on a level with the eyes, The nose is 
covered with soft, downy hair, and the eye, which is large 
and full, gives the physiognomy an intelligent look, which 
would induce the belief that no great difficulty would occur 
to prevent their domestication. If such could be effected, 
great benefit might result from the introduction of their 
wool into our markets, as, from its length, elasticity, and 
fineness, it could be manufactured into the most superior 
class of cloths. 
Their rutting season occurs at the breaking up of the 
autumn, when the cold and fitful winds of October com- 
mence to warn us that warmth is gone, and snow and ice 
are coming. The male, who generally is very inoffensive, 
unless he chance to receive a wound incapacitating him 
from escape, becomes now most quarrelsome and vindictive, 
attacking with the greatest fury whatever provokes his dis- 
pleasure; and woe be to the white man or Indian who then 
meets him, if away from a place of escape or unprovided 
with firearms. At this time furious engagements take 
place among the males, which sometimes continue till one 
or both of the contestants are so much exhausted that they 
fall an easy prey to the Indian’s arrows or the tusks of the 
large northern gray wolf. 
