|(Adult cow, eight years old. Taken November 18, 1886. Montana.)|
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| (_No. 15767, National Museum collection._) |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| | Feet.| Inches. |
|Height at shoulders | 4 | 10 |
|Length, head and body to insertion of tail| 8 | 6 |
|Depth of chest | 3 | 7 |
|Depth of flank | 1 | 7 |
|Girth behind fore leg | 6 | 10 |
|From base of horns around end of nose | 3 | |
|Length of tail vertebræ | 1 | |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+

10. _The "Wood," or "Mountain" Buffalo._--Having myself never seen a
specimen of the so called "mountain buffalo" or "wood buffalo," which
some writers accord the rank of a distinct variety, I can only quote the
descriptions of others. While most Rocky Mountain hunters consider the
bison of the mountains quite distinct from that of the plains, it must
be remarked that no two authorities quite agree in regard to the
distinguishing characters of the variety they recognize. Colonel Dodge
states that "His body is lighter, whilst his legs are shorter, but much
thicker and stronger, than the plains animal, thus enabling him to
perform feats of climbing and tumbling almost incredible in such a huge
and unwieldy beast."[32]

[Note 32: Plains of the Great West, p. 144.]

The belief in the existence of a distinct mountain variety is quite
common amongst hunters and frontiersmen all along the eastern slope the