192 
UNGULATES. 
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 hind-quarters, 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 among ruminants.” Good horns measure from 16 to 17 
li ^ j" '‘JU 
American bison (jV nat. size). 
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v • "IV t 
Distribution. 
inches, but a pair with a length of 20£ inches and a girth of 15 inches have been 
recorded. 
The range of the American bison originally extended over about 
one-third of North America. “ Starting almost at tide-water on the 
Atlantic coast,” writes Mr. Hornaday, “ it extended westward through a vast tract 
of dense forest, across the Alleghany Mountain system to the prairies along the 
Mississippi, and southward to the delta of that great system. Although the great 
plain country of the West was the natural home of the species, where it flourished 
most abundantly, it also wandered south across Texas to the burning plains of 
