174 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



[Buffaloes , 



towards the beast This trick could not be played 

 with the Toro Vaccino, whose sharp and strong 

 horns, better placed for attack than the buffalo's, 

 would pierce the cask through and through. 



The attack of the buffalo in the arena is more 

 dangerous than that of the bull, and in his rage, 

 when he has missed his tormentor, he often strikes 

 the wall furiously with his head and horns, making 

 fragments of stone fly in all directions, apparently 

 without suffering any injury from the violence of 

 the shocks. 



Fig. 749 represents a common scene in the Pontine 

 Marshes — gleaners in harvest-time, returning from 

 work, with their cart drawn by two black, sullen 

 buffaloes, whose red eyes indicate their wild and 

 savage disposition. 



751, 759.— The Cape Buffalo. 

 (Bos Coffer). This ferocious animal is a native of 

 Southern Africa, associating generally in troops, fre- 

 quenting the watered glens and ravines among the 

 hills. Like, the common buffalo, it is fond of wal- 

 lowing in pools or swamps, where it sometimes passes 

 the greater part of the day. Its temper is depicted 

 in its lowering eye, and the malevolent expression of 

 the countenance, to which the position of the horns 

 overshadowing its fiery eyes not a little contributes. 

 These weapons form at their base a solid rugged 

 mass, covering the forehead, from which they bend 

 downwards and somewhat outwards, gradually di- 

 minishing to the points, which suddenly curve up- 

 wards. The distance between the points of the 

 horns is frequently five feet, but the rugose massive 

 base of each is in contact, forming an impenetrable 

 helmet ; their colour is black. The ears are a foot 

 in length, pendent, and in a great measure defended 

 by the horns ; yet it is observed that Ihey are always 

 torn and jagged, either from the wounds received 

 in their combats with each other, or from the lace- 

 ration of thorns and spines, the animals continually 

 forcing their way through the dense thickets. 

 Though not taller than an ordinary ox, the Cape 

 buffalo is a far stouter, heavier, and more powerful 

 beast ; its limbs are short and thick, its body bulky, 

 and its head ponderous. The hide is thick and 

 tough, and sparingly covered with harsh blackish 

 hairs, those on the under lip and about the corners 

 of the mouth being elongated so as to form a scanty 

 beard. 



Considering the massive proportions of this fierce 

 tenant of the wilds of Southern Africa, it possesses 

 no inconsiderable share of fleetness, and when pur- 

 sued by the hunter it tears through the thicket and 

 up the mountain-side with surprising impetuosity. 

 Not unfrequently, however, it returns to the attack ; 

 so that it is not to be encountered without the ut- 

 most caution and the means of escape at hand. 

 Many are the fatal accidents and the narrow es- 

 capes from death recorded by the various travellers 

 who have penetrated the country of the Cape buf- 

 falo. 



The bellowing of the Cape buffalo when wounded, 

 his fury as he tears up the earth with his horns, and 

 his efforts to revenge himself upon his foes before 

 he sinks expiring, are terrific. 



It is the general opinion of the natives of South 

 Africa, that though the lion frequently attacks the 

 buffalo, he cannot overcome it by dint of strength, 

 but has recourse to stratagem, lying in ambush near 

 some stream where the beast comes to drink. They 

 say that the lion springs upon its back, drives its 

 tremendous claws into the victim's sides and the 

 nape of the heck, tearing and mangling, till the 

 buffalo falls and dies. At other times they affirm 

 that the lion darts suddenly upon the buffalo, fastens 

 on its chest and neck, lacerating and squeezing the 

 mouth and nose with its fore-paws, till, half suffo- 

 cated, and exhausted by vain efforts and loss of 

 blood from deep wounds, it expires. The lion, how- 

 ever, does not always make these attacks with im- 

 punity, for his carcass is sometimes found gored and 

 trampled, evidently by buffaloes, the herd having 

 come to the rescue of their companion. An allied 

 species (Bos Pegasus, H.Smith) is found in West em 

 Africa. 



Fig. 753 represents the skull of the Bos Caffer. 



Genus Bison : — 



754. — The Aurochs, or Zubr 



(Bison EuropcBvs ; Bos urns, Gmelin). This noble 

 species exists in the great forest of Bialowicza (pro- 

 nounced Bealawezha in Poland), in Lithuania, where 

 it is protected by stringent laws. In its proportions 

 the aurochs is robust, and its withers are massive and 

 elevated. The largest males stand about six feet 

 high at the shoulders. The hair is of two sorts : 

 one is soft, woolly and short, covering the whole 

 trunk and limbs ; the other is long and rough, cover- 

 ing the upper part and sides of the head, the neck, 

 and shoulders, where it forms a mane ; under the 

 lower jaw and along the throat to the chest it is 

 lengthened into a sort of beard. In old bulls the 



mane is often a foot in length, and is thickest in 

 November. The eyes are small, but fierce and 

 sparkling when the animal is irritated. The tongue, 

 lips, and palate are blue. The tail, which is short, 

 is furnished with a tuft of stiff hairs at its extremity. 

 An odour, described as between that of musk and 

 violets, is exhaled from the skin, especially from 

 that part of the skin covering the convexity of the 

 forehead ; it is stronger in the male than the female, 

 and may be perceived at the distance of a hundred 

 yards from the herd. 



The flesh of this animal is highly esteemed, but 

 when roasted is said to have a bluish tinge. 



Thickets near the swampy banks of rivers are the 

 favourite resorts of the aurouchs ; but in summer and 

 during the warmer portion of autumn, according to 

 Dr. Weissenborn, the herds select sandy spots : in 

 winter they keep quiet by day in the thickest part 

 of the fir-wood, only browsing at night, and finding 

 sustenance in the bark of young trees : in spring 

 they visit spots where the herbaceous plants they 

 relish begin to sprout. They are fond of tree-lichens. 

 The voice of the aurochs is a deep short grunt, which 

 may be heard at a considerable distance. 



" The strength," says Dr. Weissenborn, " of the 

 zubr is enormous, and trees of five or six inches in 

 diameter cannot withstand the thrusts of old bulls. 

 It is neither afraid of the wolf nor bear, and assails 

 its enemies both with its horns and hoofs. An old 

 zubr is a match for four wolves ; packs of the latter 

 animal, however, sometimes hunt down even old 

 bulls when alone, but a herd of zubrs has nothing 

 to fear from any rapacious animal. 



" Notwithstanding the great bulk of its body, the 

 zubr can run very swiftly. In galloping its hoofs 

 are raised above its head', which it carries very low. 



" The animal has, however, but little bottom, and 

 seldom runs farther than one or two English miles. 

 It swims with great agility, and is very fond of 

 bathing. 



" The zubr is generally exceedingly shy, and 

 avoids the approach of man. They can only be 

 approached from the leeward, as their smell is ex- 

 tremely acute. But when accidentally and sud- 

 denly fallen in with, they will passionately assail 

 the intruder. In such fits of passion the animal 

 thrusts out its tongue repeatedly, lashes its sides 

 with its tail, and the reddened and sparkling eyes 

 project from their sockets, and roll furiously. Such 

 is their innate wildness, that none of them have ever 

 been completely tamed. When taken young they 

 become, it is true, accustomed to their keepers, but 

 the approach of other persons renders them furious, 

 and even their keepers must be careful always to 

 wear the same sort of dress, when going near them. 

 Their great antipathy to the Bos Taurus, which they 

 either avoid or kill, would render their domestication, 

 if it were practicable, but little desirable. The ex- 

 periments made with a view of obtaining a mixed 

 breed from the zubr and Bos Taurus have all failed, 

 and are now strictly prohibited." 



Figs. 755, 756, represent the skull, in front and 

 profile, of a young aurochs ; Figs. 757 and 75S, of 

 an old male. 



759, 760, 761, 762. — The American Bison 



(Bison Americanus; Bos Americanus). The Ame- 

 rican Bison, formerly spread more extensively than 

 at present, still exists in vast numbers in Louis- 

 iana, roaming in countless herds over the prairies 

 that are watered by the Arkansas, Platte, Missouri, 

 and upper branches of jthe Saskatchewan and Peace 

 rivers. Like its congener the aurochs, the Ame- 

 rican bison is of powerful frame, and exceeds in 

 bulk the ordinary race of cattle, its height at the 

 fore-quarters being upwards of six feet, and its 

 weight from twelve to fifteen hundredweight, and 

 sometimes much more. The head is huge, pon- 

 derous, and carried low ; the withers are massive 

 and elevated ; the eyes are small and their expres- 

 sion is ferocious ; the horns are small and black. 

 The neck, withers, and chest are covered with a 

 profusion of long shaggy hair, contributing to render 

 the appearance of the animal wild and terrific ; the 

 hinder quarters are clothed with shorter wool. The 

 general colour is umber brown, acquiring a rusty 

 tint in winter. Endowed with the sense of smell in 

 great perfection, wary, and fierce, the bison asso- 

 ciates in large herds conducted by one or two old 

 bulls, whose motions the rest appear to follow ; but 

 herds of bulls also live separately. Their food con- 

 sists of grass and rank herbage, to obtain which in 

 winter they scrape away the snow with their feet. 

 On the approach of an enemy the herd immediately 

 takes to flight ; but if one be wounded, the life of 

 the hunter is placed in great jeopardy, for turning 

 in a moment, it rushes on its assailant with head- 

 long impetuosity and with determined resolution. 

 Several fatal instances might be cited in which the 

 hunter has perished from want of caution in attack- 

 ing this formidable beast, and many hairbreadth 

 escapes are on record. 



In defending itself from a dog the bison strikes 



violently with its fore feet, and easily keeps its an- 

 noying foe at bay. 



The flesh of this animal is accounted excellent, 

 the tongue and hump, or flesh on the top of the 

 withers, being especial delicacies. The chase of 

 the bison is therefore assiduously carried on, both 

 by the natives and the Europeans. 



The bison swims well, and during the heats of 

 summer vast herds make their way to shady rivulets, 

 streams, and pools, in which they delight to plunge 

 and bathe. Herds of twenty thousand, crossing 

 rivers upwards of a mile in breadth, have been seen, 

 as Lewis and Clarke inform us, or darkening the 

 plains on their passage to fresh feeding- grounds. 



Salt-springs, or saline morasses, or salt-licks, are 

 great attractions to this animal, and at all seasons 

 are visited by numerous herds. These, however, 

 are incessantly thinned by the hunters, and the 

 time is probably not far distant when the American 

 bison will be as rare and as limited in its extent of 

 range as the aurochs of Lithuania. 



At certain seasons of the year the bulls engage 

 in terrible conflicts, and rush" furiously upon man, or 

 any other animal which ventures near them. With 

 the exception of man the most formidable enemy 

 against which the bison has to contend is the huge 

 grisly bear, and before this dreaded monster the 

 strongest bull goes down. 



It appears that the bison will breed with the or- 

 dinary race of domestic cattle, against which the 

 aurochs displays the greatest antipathy, though in 

 one respect the latter approaches nearer to the com- 

 mon ox than does the bison ; we allude to the number 

 of ribs, which are thirteen in the ox on each side, 

 fourteen in the aurochs, and fifteen in the bison. 



Figs. 763, 764, represents the skull, front view and 

 in profile, of a young female bison ; Figs. 765, 766, 

 of an old male bison. 



Genus Ovibus; — 



767.— The Musk Ox 



(Ovibos Moschatus). The characters of the genus 

 Ovibos, as exhibited by the only known species, are 

 as follows: — The horns are expanded at their base, 

 forming a helmet-like mass, covering the forehead, 

 where their edges are in contact with each other ; 

 from this mass they emerge round and tapering, 

 first bending down between the eye and ear, and 

 then sweeping suddenly upwards'. The ears and 

 tail are short; the eyes moderate; the nostrils 

 oblong, and inclined to each other from above down- 

 wards ; there is no true naked muzzle, but a very 

 narrow naked line surrounds each nostril, the rest 

 being covered with hair ; there is no furrow in the 

 upper lip. 



The musk-ox is a native of the high lattitudes of 

 North America, from the sixty-first to the seventy- 

 fifth degree of latitude. In size it scarcely equals 

 the smallest of the Highland breed of cattle, but 

 appears larger than it really is from the profusion of 

 long matted woolly hair with which it is covered, 

 and which hangs on each side almost to the ground, 

 almost concealing the limbs to the pasterns ; the 

 tail is entirely hidden. Beneath the lower jaw, 

 throat, and chest the hair flows full, long and mane- 

 like. The general colour is dull grizzled umber 

 brown, darker on the sides and under surface : on 

 the centre of the back is a brownish-white mark or 

 saddle. 



The districts inhabited by the musk-ox, says Dr. 

 Richardson, are the proper lands of the Esquimaux, 

 and their name for it is Oomingmak. It frequents 

 wild and rocky situations, mostly destitute of wood, 

 feeding on grass during one season of the year, and 

 on lichens during the other. When fat its flesh is 

 tolerable, but at certain times both that of the bulls 

 and cows smell strongly of musk. Though the 

 limbs of the musk-ox are short, they are very vigor- 

 ous, and the animal is fleet and active. Dr. Rich- 

 ardson mentions one pursued on the banks of the 

 Coppermine, which scaled a lofty sand-cliff so steep 

 that the parly were obliged to crawl up it on their 

 hands and. knees. 



In September these animals assemble in herds, 

 and are then much harassed by the hunters. The 

 sport, however, is not free from danger, for the bulls 

 are very irascible, and when wounded will dart fu- 

 riously upon the hunter, who requires both practice 

 and presence of mind in order to escape. If, how- 

 ever, the hunters remained concealed when they 

 fire upon a herd of musk-oxen, the poor animals 

 mistake the noise for thunder, and forming them- 

 selves into a group, crowd nearer and nearer together 

 as their companions fall around them ; but should 

 they discover their enemies by sight, or by their 

 sense of smell, which is very acute, the whole herd 

 seek for safety by instant flight. 



The wool of this animal is fine, and some stock- 

 ings which were made from it in France are said to 

 have been equal to those made from silk. If it 

 could be obtained in sufficient quantity, it might 

 doubtless be employed advantageously as an article 

 for manufacture. 



