File:Birds and nature (1901) (14562088237) white background.jpg

Identifier: birdsnature9101unse (find matches)
Title: Birds and nature
Year: 1900 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Birds Natural history
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : A.W. Mumford, Publisher
Contributing Library: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

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ffalo, a fero-cious animal of the central and southernportions of Africa, the Indian buffalo liv-ing in southern Asia and the Europeanbison. The European bison, like its Americanrelative, has suffered from the hunter andthe advance of civilization and is practi-cally exterminated. It now exists only ina few forests on the Caucasus and in thefamous forest and game preserve of theCzars of Russia called Lithuania. Here,protected by stringent laws through sev-eral centuries, the European bison hasbeen saved from absolute extermination.In former times this was different, forthe bison ranged all over Europe and alarge portion of Asia. In the time ofCaesar, according to his own record, theyabounded in Germany and Belgium. So it is with the American Buffalo.Were it not for government and privatepreserves this, one of the largest of livingquadrupeds, would be unknown to futuregenerations except by museum specimens.Correctly speaking, the American speciesshould be called Bison. So universal, 26
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URBANE however, is the use of the term Buffalothat the word Bison would puzzle manypeople. Strictly speaking, the name buf-falo should be applied only to designatethe Cape and Indian species. The original range of the AmericanBuffalo extended from but little west ofthe Atlantic coast westward to the RockyMountains and from Mexico on the southnorthward to about the sixty-fifth degreeof north latitude. By the trappers the Buf-faloes were placed in two classes. Thosethat frequented the mountain ranges werecalled Bison. They wrere seldom seen onthe plains, the home of the other class.Their limbs were shorter and stouter andbetter fitted for a rough country. Thereexisted in former ages two other speciesentirely distinct from the animal withwhich we are familiar. They were muchlarger, possibly as large as an elephant,and were probably associates of the mas-todon and the mammoth. A fully adult male Buffalo will measureabout nine or ten feet in length from themuzzle to the tail. Its height at

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