and four inguinal mammae.

THE AMERICAN BISON.

_Bos Americanus._

[Illustration: THE BISON. ]

The head of this animal is enormously large; larger, in fact, in
proportion to the size of its body, than that of any other species of
the Ox Tribe. This huge head is supported by very powerful muscles,
attached to the projecting spinous processes of the dorsal vertebrae; and
these muscles, together with a quantity of fat, constitute the hump on
the shoulders. The horns are short, tapering, round, and very distant
from each other, as are also the eyes, which are small and dark. The
head, neck, shoulders, and fore-legs, to the knee-joints, are covered
with long woolly hair, which likewise forms a beard under the mouth. The
rest of the body is clothed only by short, close hair, which becomes
rather woolly in the depth of winter. The colour is of a deep brown,
nearly black on the head, and lighter about the neck and shoulders. The
legs are firm and muscular; the tail is short, with a tuft at the end.

The female is, in every respect, much smaller than the male; her horns
are more slender, and the hair on her neck and shoulders is not so thick
or long, nor the colour so dark. She brings forth in the spring, and
rarely more than one. The calves continue to be suckled nearly twelve
months, and follow the cows for a much longer period. It is said that
the cows are not unfrequently followed by the calves of two, or even
three, breeding seasons.

These animals, both male and female, are timid and shy, notwithstanding
their fierce appearance; unless they are wounded, or during the breeding
season, when it is dangerous to approach. Their mode of attack is to
throw down, by pushing, as they run with their head; then to crush, by
trampling their enemy under their fore-feet, which, surmounted as they
are, by their tremendous head and shoulder, form most effectual weapons
of destruction.

[Illustration: Young female Bison, after Cuvier.]

The following account, by Dr. Richardson, affords an instance of the
danger to be apprehended from these powerful animals, when wounded, and
not disabled: "Mr. Finnan M'Donald, one of the Hudson's Bay Company's
clerks was descending the Saskatchewan in a boat; and one evening,
having pitched his tent for the night, he went out in the dusk to look
for game. It had become nearly dark when he fired at a Bison bull, which
was galloping over an eminence; and as he was hastening forward to see