frequent the moister districts of the forest, but with the advent o f winter
seek drier spots where the covert is less dense. The old bulls are solitary,
but younger animals consort in summer in parties of from fifteen to twenty
head, although in winter they collect in herds of from thirty to fifty.
Each herd has its own particular grazing ground, from which it seldom
wanders far. Till the commencement of the pairing season, which takes
place in August and the early part of September, peace reigns among these
herds ; but when two strange herds meet quarrels not unfrequently arise,
and during the pairing season the old bulls engage in desperate encounters
among themselves for the possession of the cows. Bison are active both
during the daytime and the night, but their chief feeding times are during
the early mornings and evenings.
Although .their large size and stout build might suggest the idea that
their movements are slow, yet such is by no means the case ; their first
pace when disturbed is a quick trot, which subsequently quickens into a
gallop, during which the head is lowered nearly to the ground, and the
tail elevated and carried nearly horizontally. Major Heber Percy thus
describes a bison-drive in Bielowitza : “ We waited in perfect silence for
about half an hour, and then I heard the breaking of sticks and crashing of
branches as the herd approached at a gallop. There were about fifteen
of them, all thoroughly alarmed, and presenting exactly the appearance
of a herd of American bison, the same carriage of the head and the tail
carried in the same manner. Though I had but one short view of them,
one bull immediately caught my eye as being much larger than the others.
. . . At that moment they disappeared in the brushwood, but I could hear
them coming straight on towards me, so cocking my rifle, I waited for
them to cross the glade to my left. Louder came the noise ot the. crashing
of branches ; and out burst the leading animal across the clearing about
eighty yards from me, closely followed by the second and remainder of the
herd. Directly the second appeared, I fired at it and rolled it over.”