metimes nearly black--and
sometimes of a burnt or liver hue; but this change depends on the
season. The young coat of hair is darker, but changes as the season
advances. In autumn it is nearly black, and then the coat of the animal
has a shiny appearance; but as winter comes on, and the hair lengthens,
it becomes lighter and more bleached-like. In the early part of summer
it has a yellowish brown hue, and at this time, with rubbing and
wallowing, part of it has already come off, while large flakes hang
raggled and loose from the flanks, ready at any moment to drop off.

In size, the American buffalo competes with the European species (_Bos
aurochs_), now nearly extinct. These animals differ in shape
considerably, but the largest individuals of each species would very
nearly balance one another in weight. Either of them is equal in size
and weight to the largest specimens of the common ox--prize oxen, of
course, excepted.

A full-grown buffalo-bull is six feet high at the shoulders, eight feet
from the snout to the base of the tail, and will weigh about 1500
pounds.

Rare individuals exist whose weight much exceeds this. The cows are, of
course, much smaller than the bulls, and scarcely come up to the
ordinary standard of farm-cattle.

The flesh of the buffalo is juicy and delicious, equal, indeed superior,
to well-fed beef. It may be regarded as beef with a _game flavour_.

Many people--travellers and hunters--prefer it to any other species of
meat.

The flesh of the cow, as may be supposed, is more tender and savoury
than that of the bull; and in a hunt when "meat" is the object, the cow
is selected as a mark for the arrow or bullet.

The parts most esteemed are the tongue, the "hump-ribs" (the long
spinous processes of the first dorsal vertebra), and the marrow of the
shank bones. "Boudins" (part of the intestines) are also favourite
"tit-bits" among the Indians and trappers.

The tongues, when dried, are really superior to those of common beeves,
and, indeed, the same may be said of the other parts, but there is a
better and worse in buffalo-beef, according to the age and sex of the
animal. "Fat cow" is a term for the super-excellent, and by "poor
bull," or "old bull," is meant a very unpalatable article, only to be
eaten by the hunter in times of necessity.

The range of the buffalo is extensive, though not as it once was. It is
gradually being restricted by hunter-pressure, and the encroachment