134 BULLETIN UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA 



500. Now, there are large tracts of land leased annually for small sums 

 to large cattle dealers. There are large tracts in Indian reservations 

 which can be utilized for some such purpose more legitimately than to 

 lease to cattle men for stock. If a tract of land containing from 50 to 100 

 square miles were set apart for this particular use, with an appropria- 

 tion at the beginning of $15,000, and an annual appropriation of $5,000., 

 there certainly should be no difficulty whatever in developing a herd from 

 a small beginning to one that would be a credit to the nation. 



The government and care of the herd should be placed under the 

 jurisdiction of the Biological Survey of the Department of Agriculture. 

 The men in the Survey are keenly alive to the importance of an attempt 

 to save the buifalo from extinctin, and may be relied on to look after the 

 animals as carefully as they are looked after in any zoological park. 



It is hardly to be expected that the animals will thrive in the Yellow- 

 stone Park, where the winters are long and severe, the summers short and 

 concentrated, and where protection is likewise afforded to the wild ani- 

 mals which prey upon the calves. The buffalo, unlike the deer and elk, 

 seems to remain in a limited territory. If they are to thrive and mul- 

 tiply, they must be looked after and cared for. With a range in Mon- 

 tana, Idaho, Arizona or New Mexico as mentioned above, with a small 

 herd under care of the Biological Survey of the Gvernment, a small ap- 

 propriation will, with proper handling, produce a large herd in fifteen 

 or twenty years. 



It is to be hoped that the recent small appropriation made by congress 

 for the preservation of the buffalo will be sufficient to protect it from 

 extinction. It is doubtful, however, whether they will ever thrive in the 

 Yellowstone Park without much care in the winter. A lower altitude, 

 with less snow and longer summer, similar to that of the Flathead Indian 

 Reservation, will insure the safety of the herd with small amount of at- 

 tention and expense. 



