URUS.
This name is given to the wild buffalo, of which there are several kinds. The one represented by our picture is the Cape Buffalo, which is found in various parts of Southern Africa. He is a very formidable animal, with spiteful looking eyes, and strong, crooked, sharp horns.
He is very strong and hard to kill. The hunters consider him a worse enemy than the lion or the tiger.
This buffalo loves to wallow in pools and swamps, and when the hunters attack him, he charges upon them with his terrible horns, and often overturns a horse and his rider, trampling them under his feet, and goring them with his sharp horns.
Mr. c.u.mming, the English traveller in South Africa, often encountered these animals, and had severe battles with them.
Here is a picture of the American bison, which is commonly called a Buffalo.
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[Ill.u.s.tration: VICUGNA.]
VICUGNA.
The vicugna has sometimes been called the Chilian sheep, from the name of the country it inhabits. It is covered with a fine, valuable wool, which is of a red rose color on the back, but white on the other parts of the body. Vicugnas congregate in large herds, and feed on gra.s.s and small shrubs, and so long as they can procure enough of such food, they are never known to drink. They are very timid, but swift and sure at running. Their legs are slender and well formed, and the head tall and erect. Their ears are long and pointed, and their eyes large and brilliant. From the form of their feet, they are well fitted to travel mountainous countries, and are said to be even safer than mules. The vicugna is upwards of five feet in height and six in length. The tame ones will carry a load of over fifty pounds, but they are kept princ.i.p.ally for the sake of the wool, and the flesh, which is said to taste like mutton. Here is a picture of the llama, which is like the vicugna in many respects.
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[Ill.u.s.tration: WOLF.]
WOLF.
The wolf is something like a large dog. He is very fierce, and carries off young lambs and kids, which he kills and eats. Throughout Europe there are still many wolves, and the shepherds have great trouble to drive them away from the places where their sheep feed. We see in this picture that the wolf has killed a lamb, and is going to eat him.
We have no wolves in the settled portions of our country, for the whites hunted and killed them all, because they were such troublesome and dangerous neighbors. But in the western country, and among the forests and mountains, they are still pretty plenty. Wolves go about in large packs, or companies, and having scented their prey, pursue it like a pack of hounds, uttering the most dismal and ferocious cries.
Below is a picture of a wolf and two cubs.
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[Ill.u.s.tration: YAK.]
THE LETTER X.
We could not procure the drawing of any quadruped whose name begins with this letter.
YAK.
This animal is seldom seen in Europe, but it is a common one in Tartary, where it is a native. It is like a small ox in its size and form, and has horns and hoofs. Like the ox it is used sometimes as a beast of burden. Its colors are chiefly black and white. The hair is long and rather curly, particularly at its tail. The Chinese make ornaments out of the hair of the tails, which they dye various colors and wear them in their bonnets. The Turks and Persians use the tails as we do flags, for war-standards, which they call "horse tails."
The hump on the back of the yak, like that of the bison, is formed of flesh, better flavored and more palatable than any other part of the animal. Hence it is esteemed a great delicacy, and is much prized by the natives of the countries where it is found.
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[Ill.u.s.tration: ZEBU.]
ZEBU.
The zebu is an animal of the cow kind, and a native of India, and on that account is often called the Indian ox. There are many varieties of the zebu. Some of them are as large as our largest oxen. Others when full grown are no bigger than a small calf. Its horns are short and thick, and bent a little backwards; there is also a lump on the shoulder, which makes it look clumsy. It is a very useful and docile animal. In India it is used as a common beast of burden; it is also made to draw light wagons, and is even used for riding.
The Zebu is found not only in India, but in China, Eastern Africa, and the East India Islands. Figures representing the zebu are found on some of the most ancient monuments of that country. The Brahmins esteem the zebu a sacred animal; and for this reason it has received the name of the Brahmin ox.
The picture below, shows several different kinds of zebus.
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[Ill.u.s.tration: MARMOT.]
THE MARMOT.
The Alpine Marmot inhabits the Alps, Pyrenees, and other high mountains immediately below the region of perpetual snow. It is about the size of a hare, of a yellowish green color, tinted with an ashen hue about the head; the upper lip is cleft and whiskered. Marmots live in families, who mutually aid each other in excavating a common dwelling,--a chamber lined with dried gra.s.s, at the end of a pa.s.sage, six or eight feet, in the form of the letter Y, one of the branches serving as an entrance, the other as a sewer. During winter, the mouth is closed by earth. They feed in company, but always place a sentinel, who, on the first appearance of danger, utters a shrill cry, when the whole retreat.
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