394 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. 



really surpass him in height, if not in actual bulk also. The aurochs is 

 taller, and possesses a larger pelvis and heavier, stronger hindquarters, 

 but his body is decidedly smaller in all its proportions, which gives him 

 a lean and " leggy" look. The hair on the head, neck, and forequarters 

 of the aurochs is not nearly so long or luxuriant as on the same parts of 

 the American bison. This covering greatly magnifies the actual bulk 

 of the latter animal. Clothe the aurochs with the wonderful pelage of 

 our buffalo, give him the same enormous chest and body, and the result 

 would be a magnificent bovine monster, who would indeed stand with- 

 out a rival. But when first-class types of the two species are placed side 

 by side it seems to me that Bison americanus will easily rank his Euro- 

 pean rival. 



The gaur has no long hair upon any part of his body or head. What 

 little hair he has is very short and thin, his hindquarters being almost 

 naked. I have seen hundreds of these animals at short range, and have 

 killed and skinned several very fine specimens, one of which stood 5 feet 

 10 inches in height at the shoulders. But, despite his larger bulk, his 

 appearance is not nearly so striking and impressive as that of the male 

 American bison. He seems like a huge ox running wild. 



The magnificent dark brown frontlet and beard of the buffalo, the 

 shaggy coat of hair upon the neck, hump, and shoulders, terminating 

 at the knees in a thick mass of luxuriant black locks, to say nothing of 

 the dense coat of finer fur on the body and hindquarters, give to our 

 species not only an apparent height equal to that of the gaur, but a 

 grandeur and nobility of presence which are beyond all comparison 

 amongst ruminants. 



The slightly larger bulk of the gaur is of little significance in a com- 

 parison of the two species ; for if size alone is to turn the scale, we must 

 admit that a 500-pound lioness, with no mane whatever, is a more ma- 

 jestic looking animal than a 450-pound lion, with a mane which has 

 earned him his title of king of beasts. 



2. Change of form in captivity. — By a combination of unfortunate cir- 

 cumstances, the American bison is destined to go down to posterity 

 shorn of the honor which is his due, and appreciated at only half his 

 worth. The hunters who slew him were from the very beginning so 

 absorbed in the scramble for spoils that they had no time to measure 

 or weigh him, nor even to notice the majesty of his personal appearance 

 on his native heath. 



In captivity he fails to develop as finely as in his wild state, and with 

 the loss of his liberty he becomes a tame-looking animal. He gets fat 

 and short-bodied, and the lack of vigorous and constant exercise pre- 

 vents the development of bone and muscle which made the prairie 

 animal what he was. 



From observations made upon buffaloes that have been reared in cap- 

 tivity, I am firmly convinced that confinement and semi-domestication 



