Like their American cousins European bison dearly love a mud-bath,
and at times when the flies are troublesome they may frequently be seen
plastered over with a coat of dry mud, which forms an efficient protection
against their tormentors. During the time they are changing from the
winter to the summer coat, the old pelage hangs loosely to parts of the
body, and comes away m large blanket-like masses. The cows give birth
to their offspring in the thickest and most secluded portions .of the forest
during the month of May or early part of June, and display great boldness
in defending them from the attacks of prowling wolves j|ir bearsfc It is
seldom that more than a single calf is produced at a birth, and, as already
stated, in Bielowitza the cows now breed but once in three years, although it
H by no means certain that the rate of increase may not formerly have been
less slow. At the conclusion of the pairing season, the old bulls once
more forsake the herds with which they have temporarily consorted, to
resume a B lita ry and unsociable existence. Although a full-grown bull
bison in his prime might* appear a match for all foes, it is .stated that
during winteiSwhen struggling through snow-drifts, even such splendid
animals may occasionally be pulled down by packs of wolves; and, according
I f Prince Demidoff, they are also attacked by leopards.
5. T he A m erican B ison—Bos bison
B 0 jfison , Linn. Syst. Nat. ed. .12, vol. i. p. 99 (1766), *
Bos americanus, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 204 (1788) ; Richardson,
Fauna Bor.-Amer. p. 279§|Ii 829§l; Jardine, Naturalists Library—Mamm.
v * iv. p." 252 ( 18 3 6 ® Sundevall, K. Svenska Vet. Ak. Handl. for 1844,
p. 154 (1846) ; Baird, Mamm. N. America, p. 682 '{1859) > W. L. Sclater,
Cat. Mamm. Ind. Mus. pt. ii. p. 1 3 1 (1891) ; Huet, Bull. Soc. Acclim.
Paris, vol. xxxviffll p. 344 :^.1891); Ward, Records o f Big Game, p. "269
(1896).