THE AUROCHS, OR EUROPEAN BISON.
Bos Bison.
In this, as in the American species, the head is very broad, and the forehead arched; but the horns are longer, more curved, and end in a finer point than those of the American Bison. The eyes are large and dark; the hair on the forehead is long and wavy; under the chin and on the breast it forms a sort of beard. In winter, the whole of the neck, hump, and shoulders are covered with a long woolly hair of a dusky brown colour, intermingled with a short soft fur of a fawn colour. The long hair is gradually cast in the summer, to be again renewed as the inclemency of winter comes on. The legs, back, and posterior portions are covered with short, dark brown hair. The tail is of a moderate length, is covered with hair, and terminates in a large tuft.
The females are not so large as the males, neither are they characterised by that abundance of hair on the anterior parts, which is so conspicuous in the bulls.
These animals have never been domesticated, although calves have sometimes been caught, and confined in an enclosed pasture. An instance of this kind is recorded by Mr. Gilibert, who, while in Poland, had the opportunity of observing the character of four young ones thus reared in captivity. They were suckled by a she-goat, obstinately refusing to touch a common cow. This antipathy to the domestic cow, which they manifested so early, maintained its strength as they advanced in years; their anger was sure to be excited at the appearance of any domestic cattle, which, whenever introduced to them, they vigorously expelled from their pasture. They were, however, sufficiently tame to acknowledge the voice of their keeper.
The geographical range of this animal is now comparatively very limited, being confined to the forests of Lithuania, Moldavia, Wallachia, and some of the Caucasian mountain forests; yet there can be no doubt that, at an early period, they roamed at large over a great part of both Europe and Asia.
Although they have never been, strictly speaking, domesticated, yet herds of them are kept in certain localities in the forest of Bialowieza, under the special protection of the Emperor of Russia, and under the immediate superintendence of twelve herdsmen, each herdsman keeping the number allotted to his charge in a particular department of the forest, near some river or stream. The estimated number of the twelve herds is about 800.