THERE are two kinds of Bison; one a native of Europe, and the other of America. The European Bison, or Bonasus, is as large as a bull or ox; maned about the back and neck like a lion; and his hair hanging down under his chin, or nether jaw, like a large beard. The fore parts of his body are thick and strong, but the hinder parts are comparatively slender. He has a little ridge along his face from his forehead down to his nose, which is very hairy; his horns are large, very sharp, and turning towards his back, like those of a wild goat. The American Bison (_B. Americanus_), attains a size far superior to that of the largest breeds of our common oxen, and is met with throughout nearly the whole of the uninhabited parts of North America, from Hudson’s Bay to Louisiana and the frontiers of Mexico. Captains Lewis and Clarke, and Dr. James, bear frequent testimony to the almost incredible numbers in which these animals assemble on the banks of the Missouri. “Such was their multitude,” say the first-named travellers, “that, although the river, including an island over which they passed, was a mile in breadth, the herd stretched, as thick as they could swim, completely from one side to the other.” And again they say: “If it be not impossible to calculate the moving multitude which darkened the whole plains, we are convinced that twenty thousand would be no exaggerated number.” Dr. James tells us that, “in the middle of the day countless thousands of them were seen coming in from every quarter to the stagnant pools;” their paths, as he informs us elsewhere, being “as frequent, and almost as conspicuous, as the roads in the most populous parts of the United States.” These wild cattle defend themselves from the wolves in the most admirable manner. When they hear their savage enemies approaching they form themselves adroitly into a circle. The weakest are left in the middle, whilst the strongest are on the outside, and present to their foes an impenetrable phalanx of horns. The vignette is an illustration of this subject. Exciting stories of the buffalo hunt, both American and African, will be seen in Catlin’s North American Indians, and Harris’s Wild Animals and Sports of Southern Africa. [Illustration] [Illustration: THE ZEBU, OR BRAHMIN BULL. (_Bos Indicus._)]