The Hollow'horned Ruminants 



213 



coarse grass, on which they nevertheless contrive to keep themselves in condition, feeding in 

 the mornings and evenings, and lying down by day to rest among the rocks. 



THE BISON. 



The Bison form a marked group, differing from others of the Ox Tribe. They possess 

 fourteen pairs of ribs, while the oxen have only thirteen (the yak has fourteen) ; and have very 

 heavy, massive heads, broader and more convex foreheads than the oxen, longer spinal processes 

 on the vertebrae of the front part of the back, and larger nmseles to hold the ponderous head, 

 causing a hump, which in the American bison is very marked. There are two living species 

 of bison, one of which is found in Europe, the other in North America. 



The Edropean Bison. 



This is the most interesting survival of the primitive fauna of the Old World. It is still 

 found wild, though protected, in a large forest in Lithuania, the property of the Czar of Eussia, 

 called the Forest of Bielowitza. A few are also left of the purely wild stock in the Caucasus. 

 Those in Lithuania have been protected for several centuries, and the herd is numbered from 

 time to time. In 1857 there were 1,898 of these bison left; in 1882 there were only 600; 

 in 1889 the herd had sunk to 380, but in 1892 it had risen to 491. The presence of 

 the bison in the Caucasus had been almost forgotten till jNIr. Littledale and Prince Demidoff 

 gave accounts of hunting it there quite recently. The Zubr, as it is called, only survives 

 in some very inaccessible parts of the mounta,ins, preserved by the Grand Duke Sergius 

 Michaelovitch, in the Kouban district. There it exists as a really wild animal. The dimensions 

 of one recently shot were 10 feet from the muzzle to the end of tlie last vertebra of the 

 tail. The Cirand Duke has to obtain sj^ecial permission from the Czar to shoot one whenever 

 he goes to the Caucasus. 



This bison seems to have been an inhabitant of most of the forests of Europe and 

 Northern Asia ; its remains show that it existed in Britain, and it was plentiful in the Black 

 Forest in the time of Caesar. It is the largest of all European quadrupeds, measuring as 

 much as 10 feet 1 inch from the nose to the root of the tail, and standing nearly 6 feet 

 high at the shoulder. Prince Demidoff states his belief that it is found on the southern 

 slopes of the Caucasus Range between the hills and the Black Sea. The weight of this bison 

 reaches 1,700 lbs. It is now 

 rare to see more than five 

 or six toffether. Though the 

 animal is so massive, its horns 

 are rather small and slender, 

 and curve upwards. The 

 mane — which, like the rest of 

 the coat, is of a uniform rich 

 brown — is thick and curly, but 

 not developed like that of the 

 Amei-ican bison. 



The American Bison. 



The American bison is 

 the western representative of 

 the bison of Europe. The 

 almost complete disappear- 

 ance of this species is one of 



the warnings against reckless j;,„,,, ),„ ir. f. 1),u:<)o] [Hegoifs Part 



destruction of animal life. It isdian humped cattle. 



was formerly found in millions Iliese are often ciUed Zelm in Europe, but the origin of tlie name is unltnown. 



