IV. CHARACTER OF THE SPECIES.


1. _The buffaloes rank amongst ruminants._--With the American people,
and through them all others, familiarity with the buffalo has bred
contempt. The incredible numbers in which the animals of this species
formerly existed made their slaughter an easy matter, so much so that
the hunters and frontiersmen who accomplished their destruction have
handed down to us a contemptuous opinion of the size, character, and
general presence of our bison. And how could it be otherwise than that a
man who could find it in his heart to murder a majestic bull bison for a
hide worth only a dollar should form a one-dollar estimate of the
grandest ruminant that ever trod the earth? Men who butcher African
elephants for the sake of their ivory also entertain a similar estimate
of their victims.

With an acquaintance which includes fine living examples of all the
larger ruminants of the world except the musk-ox and the European bison,
I am sure that the American bison is the grandest of them all. His only
rivals for the kingship are the Indian bison, or gaur (_Bos gaurus_), of
Southern India, and the aurochs, or European bison, both of which
really surpass him in height, if not in actual balk 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