Part 3 (1/2)

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.]