298 MOSTLY MAMMALS 
they were actually found in company. On the contrary, 
it is more probable, as pointed out by Dr. Nehring, that 
while the one frequented the low-lying and swampy forests, 
the other resorted to the higher and drier woods. 
Of later. chronicles than Caesar’s one describing the 
wars of Charlemagne in the early part of the ninth century 
alludes to the king going to hunt bisons or aurochs 
(bisontium vel urorum) in the forests of Aix-la-Chapelle. 
The use of the term vel is a little ambiguous, but Prof. 
Dawkins considers that the passage indicates the occurrence 
of both species in the forest, while he is also of opinion 
that the animal slain by Charlemagne was undoubtedly an 
aurochs. Of special importance is the mention of both 
bison and aurochs (urus) in a grace used at the Abbey of 
St. Gall about the year 1000. Another important state- 
ment is to the effect that aurochs and elk were met with 
by the First Crusade when crossing Germany at the close 
of the eleventh century, special reference being made to 
the enormous size of the horns of the former animals. 
Again, in the ‘ Nibelungen-Lied,” of the twelfth century, 
Siegfried is related to have killed a bison and four aurochs 
near Worms. 
A work by the German writer Herberstain, entitled 
“'Moscovia,” of which an Italian translation was published 
at Venice in 1550, affords the most important evidence 
of any as to the survival of the aurochs in Poland (and 
probably also in Hungary) during the later Middle Ages. 
In this work appear woodcuts—rude, it is true, but still 
characteristic and unmistakable—of two perfectly distinct 
types of European wild cattle, one being the aurochs, or 
ur, and the other the bison. As Herberstain had travelled 
frequently in Poland, it is probable that he had seen both 
species alive, and the drawings were most likely executed 
