THE BUFFALO AND HIS FATE. 41 



Young animals are of a darker, richer brown than the old ones, age 

 bleaching the thick masses of long, woolly hair, which falls so abun- 

 dantly over the shoulders and face, to a light yellowish-brown. In 

 the spring the hinder parts are almost naked through the molting of 

 the hair, while that upon the shaggy fore parts remains permanently. 

 Pied coats are occasionally met, and examination and measurements 

 of skulls and skeletons show much individual variation in form and 

 proportions. 



In Mr. J. A. Allen's recent book * upon " The Bison, Past and Pres- 

 ent, in this Country," which is one of the most complete and admirable 

 monographs ever written on any subject, and from which I derive 

 my facts, an extended account of the animal's history and habits is 

 given. 



As is well known, the buffalo is preeminently gregarious herds 

 numbering millions of individuals, and blackening the whole landscape, 

 having formerly been met with constantly on the Plains. Emigrant 

 trains used to be delayed by the passing of dense herds, and during 

 the first years of the Kansas Pacific railway its trains were frequent- 

 ly stopped by the same cause. These masses seem to have some sort 

 of organization, consisting of small bands which unite in migration 

 or when pursued, but separate when feeding. The cows, with their 

 calves and the younger animals, are generally toward the middle of 

 the small herd, while the older bulls are found on the outside, and the 

 patriarchs of the herd bring up the rear. Much romancing has been 

 wasted on this simple and natural grouping by writers who have de- 

 scribed the supposed regularity and almost military precision of their 

 movements. The sluggish, partly disabled old males constitute the 

 "lordly sentinels" of such tales, who are supposed to watch with 

 fatherly care over the welfare of their " harems." The truth is that 

 these protectors, fancied so alert, are the most easily approached of any 

 of the flock, and the real guardians are the vigilant cows themselves, 

 who usually lead the movements of the herd. 



The rutting-season is July and August. The period of pregnancy 

 is nine months, and rarely more than a single calf is born, which fol- 

 lows the mother for a year or more. During the rutting-season the 

 bulls wage fierce battles, but they rarely result fatally. The short 

 horns are not very dangerous weapons, and the masses of hair on the 

 forehead break the force of the stunning collisions. At this season 

 the bulls become lean, regaining their flesh in autumn, while the cows 

 are fattest in June. During its molting in midsummer the animal 

 possesses a very ragged and uncouth appearance, the hair hanging here 

 and there in matted, loosened patches, with intervening naked spaces ; 

 and it endeavors to free itself from this loosened hair, by rubbing 



* Volume I., Part II., " Memoirs of the Geological Surrey of Kentucky, " Professor N. 

 S. Shaler, Geologist, iu charge ; and reprinted by the Museum of Comparative Zoology as 

 one of its " Memoirs." Cambridge, 1875. 



