40 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



of the United States. Already the census of some of them 

 can be expressed in three figures. 



''The fate of the bison, or American buffalo, is typical of 

 them all. ' Whether we consider this noble animal,' says 

 Audubon, 'as an object of the chase or as an article of food 

 for man, it is decidedly the most important of all our Ameri- 

 can contemporary quadrupeds.' 



"At the middle of the last century this animal pastured in 

 Pennsylvania and Virginia, and even at the close of the cen- 

 tury ranged over the whole Mississippi Valley and farther 

 west wherever pasturage was to be 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 Yellow- 

 stone Park. 



" Now, for several reasons it has been comparatively easy to 

 trace the decline of the buffalo population. The size of the 

 animal, its preference for open country, the sportsman's in- 

 terest in it, and its relations to the food supply of the West- 

 ern 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 approaching 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 accessible re- 

 gions, 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 enumerated, 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 be- 

 coming so. like the Californian sea elephant, a gigantic crea- 

 ture, often of greater bulk than the elephant, which has 

 suffered the fate of complete extinction within a few past 

 years; at least it is uncertain whether a single individual 

 actually survives. The Pacific walrus, upon which a large 

 native population has always in great part depended for food 

 and hides, is rapidly following the sea elephant, and so on 

 with other species. 







