THE SAVAGE WORLD. 
587 
UNGULATES.—BUFFALO AND OX FAMILY. 
The Auroch, Bonassus, or Zubr (.Bison europea ), is Lithuanian in habitat. 
It always diffuses an odor of violet musk. Naturally shy and retiring, yet it will 
fight when irritated, and is a terrible adversary. It is a good swimmer and 
escapes domestication by its exceeding moroseness and untamableness. It is 
about six feet in height. The species is substantially extinct, as its habitat is 
so narrow in ex¬ 
tent. It is light- 
brown in color, 
has a forehead 
whose breadth is 
lengthwise, is 
bearded, and wears 
small horns which 
curve upward. 
The Ameri¬ 
can Buffalo ( Bi¬ 
son americanus) 
has been slaugh¬ 
tered by tourists 
and visiting for¬ 
eigners who owned 
guns, until it is 
about extinct as a 
species. The last 
herd of fourteen 
known in Colorado 
were shot by a 
single party which 
had crossed the 
salt water for the 
sake of having an 
adventure which 
would glorify the 
rest of their lives. 
It has a remarka¬ 
ble power of stor¬ 
ing up water 
“against a dry 
spell.” Among 
the many un¬ 
sportsman-like methods of hunting the creature, was that of driving a whole 
herd over the sheerest precipices. When the Union Pacific Railway was built, 
immense herds of buffaflo were frequently met with, and travellers, while in the 
cars, would shoot the animals. Not so very many years ago steamboats on the 
Mississippi and Missouri were not infrequently compelled to stop and give the 
right of way to herds of buffalo swimming across the river. 
The Gayal {Bibos frontalis ) is East Indian, and is named from its forehead.. 
It is a mountaineer, and its stout, large, pointed horns run (excepting for a slight 
NORTH AMERICAN BUFFALO. 
