BUFFALO

a town. United States, New York, capital of the county of Erie, at the E. extremity of Lake Erie, where the Niagara i ues from it, and on the New York Central, and various other lines of railway; lat. 42" 53' N.; Ion. 78" 55' w. Pop. in 1820, 2095; in 1860, 85,500; and in 1870, 117,714. It consists principally of wide and straight streets, which cro at right angles, but partly also of others, which meet the main street obliquely and prevent monotony of aspect. The whole site is a plain, with a gentle descent towards the lake, and weU covered with houses, except in a few localities, where open spaces or squares have been left for ornament and ventilation. Tne climate is said to be more equable than that of any other place within the States of the same latitude, and this, combined with an admirable system of sewerage, has proved so conducive to health that the yearly mortality is only two per cent. The principal public buildings are a large and handsome edifice erected by the general government, and containing a court-house, custom-house, and post-office; four excellent market houses, and numerous churches, among which particular notice is due to the Episcopal churches of St. John and St. Paul— the former built in a kind of transition style from the early English to the Gothic, the latter remarkable for its picturesque appearance and the variety of its outlines — and to the Roman Catholic cathedral, an imposing structure of decorated Gothic, flanked on its s. front with two towers, and adorned with a window of stained gla from Munich. The other buildings and institutions of note are Buffalo University, occupying a fine building, a liberally endowed and flourishing female academy, a young men's literary a ociation, with a library of above 9000 volumes; an orphan asylum; a general hospital, and a fine oemeteiy, situated in the suburbs, and covering about 76 acres. Manufactures are numerous, and produce annually to an amount exceeding £2,000,000. The trade, greatly favoured by the harbour, which by means of breakwaters haa been rendered safe and capacious, and by the various railways, is largely developed. The chief articles are flour and grain. The shipment of grain from Buffalo in 1871 consisted of wheats rye, com, barley, and oats, amounting in all to 48,184,991 bushels, as against 29,431,831 bushels the previous BUFFALO, the name given to those species of ox which have a thickset l^y, a large thick head, year. pendent ears, and immense and widely extended horns, which are generally compre ed at the sides and turned first downwards and then upwards, and which are sometimes also marked by irregular rings, or covered with protuberances. They are remarkable for their wUdne , their strength, and their cunning. The Cape buffalo {Bos Coffer) is the most remarkable of these animals. It is very lai^ge, strong, and wild, and it is especially distinguished by its horns, which become very thick at the roots, where they appear like two unmense swellings, which almost meet above the middle of the skulL In colour it is very dark, almost black, sometimes however inclining to brown. It takes its name from the Cape of Good Hope, where it is found, but it is not oon to this quarter, being also found in the great forests of the interior. In the woods lying to the B. of Kordofan they often appear in great numbers. They are extremely savage in disposition, and on that account are more feved by the tribes dwelling near their haunts than even the lion or the elephant. A Cape buffalo will sometimes hide himself behind trees watdiing till either man or beast approaches, then will suddenly dart out and attack 1^ victim; and he is not content when he has killed him, but will crush him under his hoofs and tear him with his homs, and will even return after he has once left him, and attack him with renewed fury. At the same time he is so swift that unle a person is well mounted, there is no chance of escaping him, and even then one is in great danger unle an elevated part can be reached, where the pursuer cannot follow so fast. The hide. of the Cape buffalo is so thick that it offers considerable resistance to a musket ball, and can be pierced by one only when it is fired from no great distance. These animals are generally found in herds, sometimes greater and sometimes smaller. Living stone mentions herds of sixty, and Gordon Cumming saw herds of from six to about 800. They are often accompanied by a bird, which both frees them from vermin and warns them of the approach of danger by flying up into the air. In the south of Africa the bird which attaches itself to the buffalo in this way is the Tcxtor eiythrorhynchot; in the north it is a small kind of heron of a pure white colour called Ardeola hubvlctu. In spite of the savagene of this species of buffi do when in a wild state, it is capable:ofoeing tamed, and when well treated exhibits a great deal of good In nature. India also there are still several varieties of the wild buffalo, from one of which the tame buffalo frequentiy seen in Italy and Hungary is supposed to be derived. Of the Lidian buffaloes the largest is the Amee, which, though not yet very well known, is said to be the largest of its kind. It is 7 feet high at the shoulders, and from 9 to 10^ feet long from the muzzle to the root of the taiL Its colour is like the former, a very dark brown, almost black. This species also is very savage when in a wild state, but capable of being tamed, when it becomes sufficiently docile. In India and the Eastern Peninsula many animals of this species are said to be used both for riding and for agricultural purposes. The common buffalo {Bo$ hubaluM, or BvbaluB vul' gari i), by many considered a variety of the amee, is also a native of India. Its horns are laige, thick at the roots, but gradually become thinner. The are compre ed, only a third part at the end being rounded; from the roots to about the middle they furrowed on the surface in front, but behind and the ends they are abnost quite smooth. The hair of common buffalo is thin, stiff and bristly, and elongated at the shoulders and the neck in f ronl^ as well the forehead and at the extremity of the taiL crupper, the breast, the under put of the body, the greater part of the legs are quite naked. senses of smell and hftj^wng are remarkably acute, but its sight is not so good It is a formidable enemy of the tiger, and in oontests with this animal almost always victorious. It is one of the favourite spectacles of the Lidian princes to witne a fight tween two of these animals which have been brought together for the pmpose. Hot, marshy districts best adapted to the constitution of the buffalo. Delta of the Nile is a paradise for him, and in pestilential air of the Pontine Marshes, as well the marshy districts of Calabria and Apulia^ in Maremma of Tuscany, and the countries of lower Danube, he is quite at home. In Italy almost the only domestic animal. In Lower Egypt he is common everywhere as a domestic animal, fields excellent miUc and butter. The animal called Duffalo in America {Bo9 Amerieantu) is properly bison, and is described under that name. 465