REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 35 



ject of the chase or us an article of food for maD, it is decidedly the 

 most important of all our American contemporary quadrupeds." 



At the middle of the last century this animal iiastured in Pennsylva- 

 nia and Virginia, and even at the close of the century ranged over the 

 whole Mississippi Valley and further west wherever pasturage was to 

 he found. At the present time a few hundred survivors represent the 

 millions of the last century, and we should not have even these few 

 hundred within our territory had it not been for the wise action of 

 Congress in providing for them a safe home in the Yellowstone Park. 



Now, for several reasons it has been comparatively easy to trace the 

 decline Of the buffalo population. The size of the animal, its prefer- 

 ence for open country, the sportsman's interest in it, and its relations 

 to the food supply of the Western Indians, all led to the observation 

 and record of changes ; and accordingly I have made special mention 

 of this animal in representing the advantages of a national zoological 

 park where it might be preserved ; but this is by no means the only 

 characteristic creature now threatened with speedy extinction. 



The moose is known to be at the present time a rare animal in the 

 United States, but is in less immediate danger than some others. The 

 elk is vigorously hunted and is no longer easily obtained, even in its 

 most favored haunts. The grizzly bear is believed to be rapidly ap- 

 preaching extinction outside of the Yellowstone Park, where, owing 

 to the assiduous care of those in charge, both it and the elk are still 

 preserved. The mountain sheep and goat, which inhabit less accessi- 

 ble regions, are becoming more and more rare, while the beaver has 

 retreated from a vast former area to such secluded haunts that it may 

 possibly survive longer than the other species which I have just enu- 

 merated, and which are but a portion of those in imminent danger of 

 extinction. 



Among the marine forms the manatee still exists, but, although not 

 exterminated, it is in immediate danger of beeomimg so, like the Cali- 

 fornian sea-elephant, a gigantic creature, often of greater bulk than the 

 elephant, which has suffered the fate of complete extiuction within a 

 few past years; at least it is uncertain whether a single individual 

 actually survives. The Pacific walrus, upon which a large native popu- 

 lation has always in great part depended for food and hides, is rapidly 

 following the sea-elephant, and so on with other species. 



This appalling destruction is not confined to mammals. Disregard 

 ing the birds of song and plumage, to which the fashions of the milli. 

 ner have brought disaster, nearly all the larger and more characteristic 

 American birds have suffered in the same way as their four-footed con- 

 temporaries. The fate of the great Auk is familiar to all naturalists; 

 but it is not so well known that the great Californian \ alture and sev- 

 eral of the beautiful sea-fowl of our coasts have met th.^ same fate, and 

 that the wild pigeon, whose astonishing flocks were dwelt upon by Au- 

 dubon and others in such remarkable descriptions and which were long 



